E.P.A. Allows California Emissions Rules
June 30, 2009, By Kate Galbraith
http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/30/epa-allows-california-emissions-rules/
The Environmental Protection Agency has granted California’s long-sought request to tighten tailpipe emission regulations, a key step in the Obama administration’s plan to make cars across the nation more fuel-efficient.
Tuesday’s announcement did not come as a surprise, since the president announced last month that he would craft tough new rules for automobile emissions, and would do so by adopting the strict standards that California has wanted.
Since 2005, California has been seeking a waiver from the E.P.A. to impose stricter tailpipe emissions standards than those in effect nationally. The Bush administration denied the waiver request in December 2007.
December 21, 2007, Denial of State Emissions Plan Was Foreshadowed
By JOHN M. BRODER and MICHELINE MAYNARD
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/21/washington/21emissions.html
Stephen L. Johnson, the environmental administrator, announced the decision on Wednesday, the day President Bush signed the first major change in vehicle mileage standards passed by Congress in 32 years.
Mr. Johnson said the new law made the proposed California standards unnecessary.
California developed rules in 2004 to reduce tailpipe emissions of carbon dioxide and other pollutants that scientists say contribute to global warming. The state applied to Washington in December 2005 for a waiver from the Clean Air Act to let it apply the tougher standards. Eventually, 16 states joined the application for the exception.
Since 1970, such waivers have been routinely granted more than 50 times involving tailpipe pollutants that foul the air in some states more than in others. But none faced the political atmosphere surrounding the California proposal, which dealt with a gas that affects the world climate, not that of a particular state.
Thirteen other states and the District of Columbia have also announced plans to adopt the California standards; the Clean Air Act gives them a choice between following the standards of California or those of the rest of the nation.
An auto industry group declared itself satisfied with the process, which will end up ensuring that the nation as a whole has a single emissions standard starting in 2012, when the national standard takes effect. Automakers had been concerned about the possibility of making cars to meet two different standards.
There will be a slight lag, however, between California’s implementation of its program and the national program, Mr. Hwang, , the transportation policy director for the Natural Resources Defense Council, said. California’s standards start with the 2009 model year (essentially moot because it is almost over) — three years earlier than the national standard.
By 2016, Mr. Hwang said, the national fuel economy standard will be about 35.5 miles a gallon on average under the new rules — a level that will be reached essentially four years faster than Congress had mandated, he said.
