In the first Bush administration clean-air decision, U.S. EPA Administrator Christine Whitman reaffirmed the new rules regarding diesel emissions and fuel enacted by the outgoing Clinton administration, reports Reuters. The ruling affects both heavy-duty truck and bus manufacturers and fuel refiners, as it requires drastic reductions in tailpipe emissions and sulfur content in diesel fuel. The requirements will begin phased implementation, 2007-2010 for engines, 2006-2009 for fuel, to achieve pollution reductions of 95 percent. Reductions of this magnitude are expected to prevent 8,300 premature deaths annually, as well as 5,500 cases of chronic bronchitis and 360,000 asthma attacks. Environmentalists advocated adoption of the rules to save lives and promote cleaner-running big rigs and buses, while the industry had opposed them, citing issues of the costs of modifying refining processes and potential shortages in the diesel fuel supply, possibly driving up prices.