For Immediate Release: December 20, 2007
For More Information: Matthew Davis, Environment Maine, 617-529-5855
Bush Administration Attempts
to Block States’ Efforts to Improve Air Quality and Curb Global Warming
Emissions
Yesterday, the US Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) chose to ignore the science behind global warming and the Clean Air Act
and bowed to political pressure from automobile industry and their friends in
the White House. In doing so, the Bush Administration is blocking state
efforts to solve global warming and clean up the air for California and twelve other states.
In denying the California Clean Cars waiver, the US
EPA is blocking one of the most effective tools the states have in reducing
global warming pollution. While President Bush signed into law fuel economy
standards today, the two policies are not comparable with regards to global
warming pollution reductions by 2020. For EPA to be consistent with the Supreme Court and two Federal district
courts decisions, fuel economy standards cannot be grounds for denying California’s waiver
request. The goals of a fuel economy
standard and of a greenhouse gas limit for motor vehicles are different. Fuel
economy standards are set by the Department of Transportation with fuel economy
and oil savings in mind, not global warming emissions. The EPA, especially
since the Massachusetts
vs. EPA decision, should be approving motor vehicle greenhouse gas limits
according to the requirements of the Clean Air Act, in order to protect the
public’s health and environment.
“The EPA is illegally
shirking its responsibility and using a bait and switch to confuse the facts –
fuel economy standards and the Clean Cars Program are completely different,”
said Matthew Davis, Organizational Development Director for Environment Maine.
“When will the Bush Administration get out of the way so that states can take
action together to reduce global warming pollution?!”
One key difference between the two policies is that
the Clean Cars Program would begin with model year 2009, a full decade before
the federally mandated 35 miles per gallon standard kicks in. Even when applied
across the whole country, as opposed to 13 states that have adopted the Clean
Cars Program, the federal standards only achieve 9 million tons more global
warming reductions per year than the clean cars standard – and these reductions
come a decade later. When it comes to solving global warming, time is of the
essence and delaying real reductions by a decade is to deny the science behind
climate change.
By denying the California
global warming waiver, the EPA is illegally undermining state authority. The
Clean Air Act requires EPA to grant California
the waiver unless the agency carries the burden of proving those standards
cannot be met. A study by the Northeast states has found that using existing
technologies could meet the tailpipe global warming limits. In the past, the EPA has granted over 50
waivers to California
– this is the EPA’s first refusal. Ironically, the Bush administration has
already taken credit for the California
global warming emission standards in the U.S. Climate Action Report issued in
July.
