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Politics : The Exxon Free Environmental Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Wharf Rat who wrote (3933)	6/30/2009 11:30:24 AM
From: Wharf Rat	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 49111

EPA to let California tighten pollution law Ruling on auto emissions reverses Bush-era decision By Jim Tankersley \| Tribune Newspapers June 30, 2009 WASHINGTON - -- The Environmental Protection Agency will announce Tuesday that it is granting California's request to begin imposing new, tougher restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks -- a decision that reverses the Bush administration and opens the way for the state to regain its role of leading the way on global warming policy. Under the standards, which the state had developed during the Bush administration but had been denied permission to implement, new cars and trucks sold in the U.S. will be required to improve their fuel efficiency gradually over the next seven years, reaching an average of 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016, a 40 percent increase over present levels. EPA officials say granting the so-called "California waiver" will restore a 40-year-long interpretation of the Clean Air Act that gives the state wide latitude to promulgate stricter air pollution rules than the federal government. "It preserves California's role as a leader on clean air policy," particularly on motor vehicles, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said. "It feels good to know that we are able to move past -- address -- this issue, responding to the president's call." The move will also bring California emissions policy into line with the national vehicle emissions standards, with the federal government agreeing to adopt the California standards as its own and the state agreeing not to toughen the standards at least until 2017. Agreement on those terms came after intensive negotiations between the administration, California officials, environmentalists and the auto industry, As a presidential candidate, Barack Obama criticized the original Bush EPA decision and ordered the agency to revisit it shortly after his inauguration. The original Clean Air Act, passed in the 1960s, included a provision that allowed California to seek permission to set its own, tougher pollution standards. In 2004, California adopted standards for tailpipe emissions of greenhouse gases. It petitioned to enforce them under the air act. Late in 2007, Bush's EPA said it would deny the request -- the first time in more than 50 instances that the agency had ruled against an entire set of proposed California standards. chicagotribune.com