Obama Opens Way For States to Tighten Emissions Rules (update2)

January 26th, 2009|David Hughes
State

Obama, who pledged during his campaign to combat climate change and reduce U.S. reliance on fossil fuels, also said his administration will finish work started by President George W. Bushs on new national standards requiring cars and light trucks to be more fuel efficient by 2011. He linked the actions to his plan to revitalize the economy.

“Our goal is not to further burden an already struggling industry; it is to help Americas automakers prepare for the future,” Obama said at the White House today. “We must ensure that the fuel-efficient cars of tomorrow are built right here.”

The trade group that represents General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co., Chrysler LLC, Toyota Motor Corp. and other companies has argued that meeting stricter state standards would cost billions of dollars, create a patchwork of regulations and reduce the numbers of models automakers can sell in California and other states that want to adopt their own rules.

California seeks “a very challenging standard that right now only six vehicles could meet,” said Gloria Bergquist, vice president of the Washington-based Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers. “We would need a major technology breakthrough immediately.”

GMs Reaction

GM, the worlds second-largest automaker, said today that it was ready to work with the administration “on policies that support meaningful and workable solutions and targets that benefit consumers from coast to coast.”

The president directed his Environmental Protection Administration chief, Lisa Jackson, to reconsider Californias request for a waiver to begin a state program aimed at cutting gases tied to global warming by 30 percent by 2016.

Bush denied the request by California and more than a dozen other states. During his two terms in office he resisted setting a national cap on emissions of carbon dioxide, which most scientists say is a major contributor to global warming.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, and Mary Nichols, head of the states Air Resources Board, have pressed the new administration to overturn Bushs decision. Environmentalists welcomed todays news as a sign that Obama will move forward on an aggressive path toward regulating greenhouse- gas emissions.

Right Direction

“Its an important step in the right direction,” said Jonathan Lash, head of the Washington-based environmental advocacy group World Resources Institute. He has helped companies including General Electric Co. craft strategies aimed at profiting from a burgeoning market for clean energy products.

Republican leaders reacted skeptically.

“Our nations automakers are struggling — drastically restructuring and shedding jobs just to stay afloat,” said Antonia Ferrier, spokeswoman for House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio. “And now they are being forced to spend billions of dollars to comply with Californias emissions standards instead of using that money to save American jobs.”

GM and Chrysler last month got government pledges for as much as $17.4 billion in emergency loans to stave off bankruptcy. U.S. automakers said this weekend that about 988 of their dealerships closed or were consolidated in 2008 because last years sales rate of light trucks and cars was the lowest since 1992.

State Actions

Granting Californias request to regulate car emissions would also affect 13 other states that have adopted the same rules. Four more states are promising to do so as well.

“An immediate review of the waiver decision shows respect for California and the other 18 states — representing more than half the U.S. population,” Senator Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat and head of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, said in a statement.

Bill Kovacs, vice president of environment, technology, and regulatory affairs at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said the move would be an unnecessary burden for the automakers and may have wider effects that could imperil Obamas proposals to create jobs amid a faltering economy.

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