EPA lets state get tougher on new vehicles POLLUTION

EPA Administrator-designate Lisa Jackson testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 14,2009, before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing on her nomination. (AP Photo/Lauren Victoria Burke) less EPA Administrator-designate Lisa Jackson testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 14,2009, before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing on her nomination. (AP Photo/Lauren ... more Photo: Lauren Victoria Burke, AP Photo: Lauren Victoria Burke, AP Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close EPA lets state get tougher on new vehicles 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

Federal officials on Tuesday cleared California to impose tough greenhouse gas limits on new motor vehicles that more than a dozen other states can follow immediately and that will form the basis of new nationwide rules in 2012.

In a major reversal of Bush administration policy, the Environmental Protection Agency's ruling was hailed by California politicians and national environmental groups as a breakthrough in curbing carbon dioxide - a leading contributor to global warming.

Tuesday's waiver highlights the state's decades-long tradition of environmental leadership, said Roland Hwang, transportation program director for the Natural Resources Defense Council.

"When you look at California's leadership across the board on energy and global warming, it provides almost a perfect template for the activity going on in D.C.," he said. "What's happening out here with Tesla (Motors' electric car production) is what should be happening in Detroit."

California has a history of setting environmental standards more rigorous than the federal government's since before 1970, and the Clean Air Act passed that year permits the state to continue to do so, providing it receives a waiver from the EPA.

The state law setting the new carbon dioxide standards, written by then-Assemblywoman Fran Pavley, passed in 2002, and the state sought an EPA waiver in 2005. But the EPA denied the waiver in 2007, saying it was important to have a national emissions standard and that a recently passed energy bill raising fuel economy standards was a better universal rule.

In January, President Obama's pick for EPA administrator, Lisa Jackson, promised to review the waiver decision. In May, Obama announced national emissions and fuel economy standards patterned after California's pending rule. On Tuesday, Jackson granted the California waiver.

"This decision puts the law and science first," Jackson said in a statement. "After review of the scientific findings, and another comprehensive round of public engagement, I have decided this is the appropriate course under the law."

Pavley, now a state Senator, issued a statement cheering the decision.

"It was a real David and Goliath fight," she said. "This news is extremely gratifying to all the people and organizations who have worked so hard on this issue for the past eight years. We're thrilled to death."

The waiver means that California can impose the emissions standards - the nation's first aimed at reducing greenhouse gases - beginning with the 2009 model year and increase them annually, with a goal of achieving a 30 percent reduction in greenhouse gases in 2016 compared with 2002 levels.

National standards fuzzy

The new national standards, which are still being developed, are due to take effect in 2012 and would include both fuel economy and greenhouse gas pollution standards. They would require an average fuel economy of 35.5 miles per gallon in 2016; current federal standards require 27.5 mpg for cars and 22.3 mpg for SUVs and light trucks.

The draft standards also call for a national carbon dioxide vehicle emissions standard of 250 grams per mile of CO{-2} in model year 2016, a figure comparable to California's standard.

Vehicles covered by the policy - passenger cars, light-duty trucks and medium-duty passenger vehicles - generate about 60 percent of all U.S. transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions, which comprise about a third of all greenhouse gas emissions in the nation, according to the EPA. Under agreements reached during the waiver battle, California will consider any vehicles that meet that national standard to also meet the California standard until 2016.

That agreement was important to the auto industry, which had long argued that a national standard was needed to avoid costly confusion. Automakers dropped pending lawsuits as part of the agreement, and on Tuesday Michael Stanton, president of the Association of International Automobile Manufacturers, cited the agreement in reacting to the EPA decision.

"We are now focused on working with California, EPA and (the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) to finalize the operational details of this harmonized program and to continue meeting aggressive goals for cleaner, more fuel-efficient vehicles," he said.

California's new rules will be followed by 13 other states - Arizona, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington - and the District of Columbia.

40% of vehicles affected

That means about 40 percent of the nation's vehicle fleet will come under the new rules, said Hwang - and the waiver opens the door for California to set still stronger standards after 2016.

In the nearer term, Hwang and other environmentalists said, the decision will give Californians and states that follow their standards a jump-start on buying the next generation of clean cars - and enjoying lower overall fuel costs as miles per gallon rise.

An analysis by the California Air Resources Board estimated that California's program will reduce the state's annual climate change emissions by 30 million metric tons in 2020 and save Californians about $30 a month in fuel costs.

A separate analysis by the Union of Concerned Scientists found that a federal standard like the one proposed by Obama in May would reduce U.S. oil dependence by about 1.4 million barrels per day by 2020 - about the same amount the nation now imports from Saudi Arabia.

But William Yeatman, an energy policy analyst for the free market Competitive Enterprise Institute, said those estimates overlook a "legal tripwire" created by the waiver that could eventually see property owners forced to spend thousands in legal bills and infrastructure upgrades to meet emissions standards for buildings.

Hwang disagreed, saying the EPA waiver is specifically tailored to automobiles.