low standard.

Industry chiefs and Government's Environmental Officer this week said the controls and tests on diesel oil sold in Bermuda are equal to or better than that which can be sold in Europe, the US or Japan.

They made the statements after a "A Fed Up Taxi Driver'' complained in a letter to the Editor of being "sneakily'' reported to the Transport Control Department for smoke emissions despite a rigid regimen of oil changes every two-and-a-half months.

He added: "Of course diesel engines will give off some smoke emission. It's a diesel engine... The bottom line, Bermuda has a very low quality of diesel fuel and this causes a great contribution to smoke emission.'' But the industry-driven Environmental Subcommittee of the National Transportation Policy, tasked to come up with directions and solutions for the Islands roads, has reported to Government that diesel fuel sold here is to a very high standard.

Ed Edelson, manager of Esso, said yesterday: "We made a comprehensive presentation that demonstrated with samples the testing that we have conducted and showed them what the worldwide specifications are.

"We showed that we met or exceeded the standards that can be found in the US, Europe or Japan,'' Mr. Edelson added. "We continue to have third party independent testing of all our products as we receive it. My friends at Shell do it too.

"When it comes to diesel, it is incomplete combustion which is attributable to the engines not being tuned as often as they should be.'' David Rose, oil products business manager of Shell, said: "We are very cognizant for the need for quality products. We have done that in the past and we will continue to do so in the future.

"The fuels and oils sold here are very similar to that found in central America and the Caribbean -- except for Puerto Rico which has US standards.'' "It's of a very high quality. I can categorically state that the quality of the diesel sold here exceeds that of the US and certain other areas especially the cetane levels which is similar to octane for fuel.'' Mr. Rose added that it was the efficiency of the engine that had a greater effect on high emissions, explaining there could be a 30 percent reduction in emissions after a thorough tune-up.

Government Environmental Engineer Thomas Sleeter provided statistics showing emissions indices and explained the role of the engine in smoke emissions.

"The sulphur content is a contributor to particularate emissions -- soot -- but doing a thorough maintenance on the vehicle tuning and changing the oil and filters clean you can get up to 30 percent reductions,'' he said.

"But by going to lower sulphur content fuel one could see a reduction by about ten percent. That letter writer is doing all the right stuff, maybe even more than he's expected to do. Yes, there are some vehicles that are not -- but they should be tested twice a year.

"The mechanics say you should do it four times a year,'' he added.

"Maintenance is the key.'' The cetane index for Bermuda is 47, US 40, Europe 46, and Japan 47 with the higher the number the better.

For ash content the European standard is .01 percent and for Bermuda it is less than .01 percent, while for carbon emissions in Europe it is .3 percent and here it is an average of .03 percent.

But for the sulphur content Bermuda varies between 220 to 480 parts per million (ppm) with a national specification of less than 500 ppm. In the US and Japan the specification is 50 ppm while in Europe it is 350 ppm.