The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will be unveiling new regulations on Monday, that will force oil refineries to remove sulfur from all gasoline sold in the United States. The new rule will require oil refiners to install new equipment to remove the sulfur and will force automobile manufacturers to install new, cleaner burning engine technology. EPA officials say that removing the smog forming pollutant will reduce the rates of diseases associated with those pollutants and will only slightly raise the price of gasoline and cars. They estimate that the new regulation will raise the cost of gasoline by about two-thirds of 1 cent per gallon and add approximately $75 to the sticker price of cars.

According to Charles T. Drevna, president of the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, the rule comes on top of a series of other burdensome regulations. Ten years ago, American gasoline contained 300 parts per million of sulfur, but earlier rules required refiners to cut the sulfur content by 90 percent. It was easier to comply with the earlier regulations because removing the first 90 percent of sulfur molecules from gasoline is more easily done than removing the last 10 percent. Oil refiners say that it will cost their industry $10 billion and raise gasoline costs by up to 9 cents per gallon.

The cleaner gasoline standard has been years in the making. Obama asked the EPA to create the rule in 2010 and public health and environmental advocates lobbied the agency to complete it. It is the most recent in a continued effort to reduce air pollution in the United States.