The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) is expected today to
grant California's long-standing request to carry out Clean Car
standards immediately.
The Agency's decision revs up the drive to national greenhouse
gas emission standards for passenger vehicles: President Obama forged
an agreement with states and automakers on May 19 providing for a national clean car program
in model years 2012 to 2016 that is based on the California standards.
The national program would achieve a 5% annual improvement in fuel
economy from today's fleet average of 25.1 miles per gallon (mpg) to
35.5 mpg in 2016.
The California waiver allows the state's clean car standards to
apply from model years 2009-2011, until the federal standards are
carried out. During this transition period, the states will allow
fleetwide compliance across all states adopting the clean car standards
to expand the averaging pool for determining compliance. Thirteen other states have already adopted the California standards.
Beginning in model year 2012, compliance with the new national
standards would be deemed to reflect compliance with the state
standards. The auto industry, in turn, would dismiss its legal
challenges to the state clean car programs, would not challenge the EPA
decision to grant the preemption waiver for the California clean car
standards, and would not challenge the national clean car standards.
"Cleaner cars are a trifecta that will save drivers money at the
gas pump, reduce our dependence on foreign oil and cut global warming
pollution from tailpipes," said James Fine, economist and policy
scientist at Environmental Defense Fund.
EPA estimates the national program would reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the U.S. light-duty fleet 19% by 2030.
California requested a preemption waiver under the Clean Air Act in 2005 but the Bush administration's EPA denied the request.
Under federal law, EPA shall grant California's request to administer
more protective motor vehicle emission standards unless EPA
affirmatively finds that the state does not need the standards to meet
compelling and extraordinary conditions. EPA denied California's
request in 2008, the first time in more than 30 years EPA has issued a
denial despite reviewing and granting more than 50 waiver requests from
California.
A new Environmental Defense Fund report released today, Saving
Fuel, Saving Money, Saving Our Climate, shows that motor vehicle
drivers in the 13 states that have adopted California's Clean Car
standards would save hundreds of dollars annually at the gas pump while
reducing heat-trapping greenhouse gases. The 13 states adopting the
California Clean Car standards are Arizona, Connecticut, Maine,
Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon,
Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.
The report can be viewed as a pdf at the link below.
