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California & EPA still at odds over car emissions |
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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will not meet an October deadline set by Governor Schwarzenegger to decide on California’s car emissions standards. At the same time, carmakers are appealing to a recent Vermont ruling that allowed states to set own emission rules.
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2007-10-12
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Stephen Johnson, Head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), confirmed in a telephone interview with Reuters last week that the state authority is on track to decide on California's car emissions law by the end of the year. The EPA will thus miss the deadline of 22 October set by California's Governor Schwarzenegger, who threatened to sue the agency if it did not make a decision by then.
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Two years to decide on California's request
By end-2007, the EPA will have taken two years to decide on California's waiver request filed in December 2005. In a letter from April 2007, Schwarzenegger had argued that the EPA must act on the waiver within a "reasonable time period", as stated in federal law. At present the EPA is reviewing about 100,000 comment letters received about the California petition, the highest number ever in the agency’s four-decade history of reviewing petitions.
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The EPA's decision is crucial for California and a dozen other states with similar emission laws pending, to enforce stringent limits at the state level. California’s emission rules would cut vehicle greenhouse gas emissions by 18% by 2020, starting from 2009.
Vermont ruling challenged by car industry
Meanwhile, the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers appealed on 6 October against a ruling that would allow states to adopt own GHG emission rules without violating federal authority for fuel economy regulation. U.S. District Judge William K. Session of Vermont had dismissed automakers complaints last month, citing the industry’s track record of claiming regulations cannot be met. In his 240-page ruling, Sessions stated that "it is improbable that an industry that prides itself on its modernity, flexibility and innovativeness will be unable to meet the requirements of the (greenhouse gas) regulation, especially with the range of technological possibilities and alternatives currently before it."
His decision was largely taken as a setback for U.S. carmakers that had tried to block California and other states from setting own GHG standards. It has also influenced the discussions at the federal level where higher mileage standards and climate change issues currently top political agendas.
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More information:
› U.S. District Court - Complete Decision, 12 September 2007
› Read the article: "California to sue EPA over emissions law", 26 April
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