Clean Energy News

President Barack Obama today directed the Environmental Protection Agency to reconsider its March 2008 decision to block New Jersey and 13 other states from using tailpipe emission standards to reduce global warming pollution from cars and light trucks. 

These 14-state standards will reduce global warming pollution by more than 450 million metric tons by 2020 – a reduction equivalent to eliminating all of the pollution from 84.7 million of today’s cars for a year, according to an Environment New Jersey analysis of data from the California Air Resources Board.  In New Jersey alone, the cumulative impacts of the program would have the same impact as taking over 7.4 million cars off the road for a year.

The 14-state standards will cut gasoline consumption by more than 50 billion gallons by 2020, saving Americans $93 billion at the pump.  For New Jersey consumers, the annual savings would top $1.6 billion and would reach a cumulative savings of over $8 billion by 2020. The President also directed the Department of Transportation to move forward with standards to improve the fuel efficiency of vehicles nationwide.

“Today, President Obama gave a green light to New Jersey and 13 states that the Bush administration had left idling on clean cars.  Making cars both cleaner and more efficient will reduce America’s dependence on oil and rev up our fight against global warming.  President Obama signaled that his EPA will partner with the states that have been leading the effort to reduce the pollution that causes global warming,” said Doug O’Malley, field director for Environment New Jersey.

“Together with the commitment President Obama made to clean energy in the economic recovery package, this announcement will put cleaner cars on the road and America in the fast lane to reducing our dependence on oil, fighting global warming, and kick-starting the clean, green economy,” O’Malley said.

Background:

* Environment New Jersey worked to adopt the clean cars standards in New Jersey in early 2004.

* 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—have adopted the tailpipe standards.  Several additional states are actively considering adopting the standards.

* In March 2008, in an unprecedented action, the Bush administration denied California’s waiver request, blocking the states’ global warming emissions tailpipe standards.

* In 2007, Congress passed the first increase in fuel economy standards in 32 years.  The Bush administration never finalized the standards to implement the increase.

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Environment New Jersey  is a state-based, citizen-funded environment group working for clean air, clean water, and open space and represents over 20,000 citizen members across the Garden State.