Letters between Partners of the PCFV

From:  John Mooney

Sent: Sunday, December 18, 2011 9:02 AM

To: The LEAD Group

Cc: UNEP

Subject: RE: Please simply reply to this email to help end the 90 year error of leaded petrol/gasoline

Elizabeth,

There is no valid reason to continue manufacture, distribution, storage / supply and sale of leaded gasoline for any fleet of existing cars or light-duty vehicles or handheld engines anywhere in the world. Simply switching to unleaded gasoline is the proven quick and cost effective measure to remove airborne inhalable lead from human breathing space. The UNEP Report by the Valve Seat Recession Working Group under the Partnership for Clean Fuels and Vehicles - titled "Eliminating Lead from Gasoline: Report on Valve Seat Recession" was effective in Africa and elsewhere in world countries. Countries just "switched". There were no reported problems in any country (check again with Rob De Jong UNEP) when they switched to unleaded fuels and in all subsequent years. Lead poisoned air was halted abruptly. Children born after the switch returned to normal mental and IQ development levels (JJM Note: Important - this should be documented by some credible study)

One thing disturbs me - proponents of switching to unleaded gasoline and halting leaded gasoline do not say "switch" or "ban" or any word describing this process we advocate. Instead the term "phase out" is used conveying an incorrect idea of what we actually mean! The 51 African nations switched to unleaded!! without problems!! Elizabeth, Michael, Jim and the UNEP members all have to remove "phase-out" from their descriptions. "Phase out" was used early on and was a very long and costly process - two tanks, two distribution system, with expensive refinery process complications and was unnecessary. "Switch" is easy and invisible - all that is needed is replacing octane - that's up to the refinery with many options. All the country had to do is just change its gasoline order to an unleaded gasoline specification (see reference: Worldwide Fuel Charter 2006) then the next ship in will be unleaded gasoline and will free from metals, Fe, Mn Pb and other - no intentional additions.

Best regards,

John J. Mooney

President: John J Mooney LLC

President: Environment & Energy Technology & Policy Institute

85 Colgate Ave.

Wyckoff, NJ 07481, USA

From: Rob de Jong

Sent: Tuesday, December 20, 2011 12:47 AM

To: John Mooney

Cc: The LEAD Group

Subject: Re: Please simply reply to this email to help end the 90 year error of leaded petrol/gasoline

Dear John,

You are right, actually we have stopped using "phase out" and start using "eliminate" for some time now (although once in a while we still use "phase out" accidentally - as in the overview below....)

We are intensively working with each of the 6 remaining countries, as we presented in the global meeting last October (below).

We think that Afghanistan, North Korea, Myanmar may actually already be (almost) completely unleaded. The major problems are Yemen, Iraq and Algeria. Jane just came from Algeria and they now want to bring their phase out date forward, she is consulting with them. We are doing an MOU with Iraq, that are partially (one-quarter) unleaded. Yemen we are supposed to meet the senior leadership, we were invited, but with ongoing unrest cant do much.

Best,

Rob

Rob de Jong
Head, Transport Unit
Division of Technology Industry and Economics
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
PO BOX 30552
00100 Nairobi
Kenya
ph: +254-20-7624184
www.unep.org/transport

From:  John Mooney

Sent: Tuesday, December 20, 2011 3:57 AM

To: Rob de Jong; Michael Walsh

Cc: The LEAD Group; James Rochow

Subject: RE: Please simply reply to this email to help end the 90 year error of leaded petrol/gasoline

Rob,

Thanks. "Eliminate" is better but is not as good as "ban". The wording of the Worldwide Fuel Charter 2006 - including "no intentional adding of any metal to gasoline" is the best. That should be an official UNEP and PCFV objective.

Even though only a few "leaded" countries remain I suggest the offending UNEP literature you cited in your below message be retracted, revised (with 'ban' or' eliminate') and re-issued. This gives us the chance to explain that reason for this change was misinterpretation of the term "phase-out" in today's world. In reality a complete immediate end to leaded gasoline (and other such metals) is today's UNEP objective. It is the most expedient and cost effective measure that a country can take to assure clean fuels are used.

This lead elimination approach by simply switching has been taken by most world countries in the last 10 years. Earlier China and India also just switched to unleaded. Today almost the entire world population has benefited from this collective action.

The bottom line for UNEP is that public health of those few countries remaining with leaded gasoline is a vital concern. UNEP cannot sit idle without reminding these countries of this huge accomplishment with this easy proven method - "just switch" to ordering unleaded gasoline for the next delivery. The new clean fuel will quickly dilute the old remaining leaded gasoline storage tanks and within several delivery refill events will have purged the entire system. It is not complicated, is safe, and has been proven by most other world countries who are now free from leaded gasoline and free of airborne lead in human breathing space from this major airborne lead source.

Best regards,

John J. Mooney