Washington, DC- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today approved the Clean Air Act waiver that California – as well as 13 other states and the District of Columbia – needs to implement its program to reduce global warming pollution from passenger vehicles. Combined, the programs in the 14 states and District of Columbia would reduce global warming pollution by 450million metric tons – the equivalent of eliminating the pollution from 84 million cars for a year – and save consumers more than $250 billion at the pump by 2020, according to an Environment America analysis.
“The president’s action today will help break our dependence on oil, reduce global warming pollution, and save consumers money at the pump. President Obama and EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson are putting states in the driver’s seat at the same time as the federal government creates a similar program nationwide,” said Emily Figdor, Federal Global Warming Program Director for Environment America.
The Bush EPA rejected the waiver in December 2007, effectively blocking the 14 states from adopting the program. As one of his first acts in office, President Obama directed the EPA to reconsider the decision.
Environment America released a new report today showing that our national bill for fossil fuels in 2008 exceeded $1 trillion for the first time ever – more than was spent on education or the military. The report finds that, without decisive action to repower America with clean energy, the United States will spend up to $30 trillion on oil, coal, and other fossil fuels between 2010 and 2030. High spending on fossil fuels is largely driven by our dependence on oil, according to the analysis. The United States is on track to spend as much as $1.3 trillion on oil alone in 2030, 78 percent of the nation’s total spending on fossil fuels.
Today’s announcement is a cornerstone of the agreement, which President Obama announced last month, between the states, automakers, EPA, and Department of Transportation to establish uniform federal standards to reduce global warming pollution and improve the fuel economy of passenger cars, light-duty trucks, and medium-duty passenger vehicles, covering model years 2012 through 2016 and modeled off of the state program.
Background:
* Environment America’s state partners worked to adopt the program in the states.
* Passenger vehicles are the second largest source of global warming emissions nationwide.
* The Clean Air Act allows (1) California to set auto emission standards that are stronger than federal standards (no such standards currently exist); and (2) other states to adopt California’s auto emission standards. To implement the standards, EPA must issue California a waiver of federal preemption, an action the agency has taken many times in the last four decades for innovations like catalytic converters.
* In 2005, California adopted first-of-their-kind standards requiring cars and light-duty trucks to limit emissions that contribute to global warming. The standards would cut global warming emissions from passenger vehicles by 30 percent by 2016. A total of 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 have adopted the tailpipe standards.
