WASHINGTON, D.C. – More than 8 million diesel-powered trucks and buses in the United States are now able to fill up with a new, ultra-low sulfur fuel that is 97-percent cleaner than the old formulation it replaces. The new fuel, combined with improved engine technology, will reduce diesel tailpipe pollution. Cleaner diesel fuel will immediately cut soot emissions from any diesel vehicle by 10 percent. But, when combined with a new generation of engines hitting the road in January, it will enable emission reductions of up to 95 percent, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the Diesel Technology Forum (DTF). Improvements in both the fuel and the engines are required under new federal rules adopted by the Clinton administration and subsequently endorsed and implemented by the Bush administration. The policy was almost a decade in the making, and involved close collaboration between regulators, oil refiners, engine manufacturers, and public health advocates to achieve a cost-effective solution. A new 2007 diesel truck will emit just one-sixtieth the soot exhaust of one produced in 1988. And thanks to the new fuel, owners of existing diesel vehicles will have the option to install new emission controls that can reduce soot emissions by more than 90 percent.