EPA Sides With Auto Industry
California Is Blocked
From Tightening Caps
On Tailpipe Emissions
By MIKE SPECTOR in Detroit and CHRISTOPHER CONKEY in Washington
December 20, 2007; Page A8
The Bush administration blocked California's plan to put tighter limits on automobile tailpipe emissions, handing a victory to the auto industry on the same day the president signed an energy bill that mandates the biggest boost in federal fuel-efficiency standards in more than 30 years.
Late yesterday, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen Johnson blocked California from going further than the federal government does in curbing auto emissions that contribute to global warming, setting up a clash with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The moves indicate the Bush administration is satisfied with the energy bill's 35-miles-per-gallon standard for new cars by 2020 and may curtail efforts at EPA and three other federal agencies to address CO2 emissions from passenger vehicles. Still, the actions are unlikely to stanch a movement by 17 states that want to set their own, tougher rules aimed at cutting fossil-fuel burning by vehicles.
Mr. Schwarzenegger said he would appeal the EPA decision blocking California's proposed CO2 limits and continue to press for the waiver to put California's standards into practice. "The energy bill does not reflect a vision, beyond 2020, to address climate change, while California's vehicle-greenhouse-gas standards are part of a carefully designed, comprehensive program to fight climate change through 2050," he wrote in a news release.
Mr. Johnson didn't say how the energy bill would affect the work under way at EPA and the other agencies designed to curb carbon-dioxide emissions in response to a recent Supreme Court ruling that declared CO2 a pollutant. Auto-industry executives and environmentalists are lobbying over the outcome, which could amount to a mileage standard tougher than the one Congress approved.
The energy bill signed yesterday, which includes several measures to increase the nation's energy efficiency, raises auto makers' fleetwide average-mileage standard for cars and light trucks to 35 miles per gallon by 2020, replacing current levels that amount to 25 mpg. It places a greater burden on auto makers, particularly General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC, which depend on sales of pickups and sport-utility vehicles for much of their profits. Still, the details of the legislation leave potential wiggle room for trucks and SUVs.
California is driving the next phase of the national energy and climate-change debate. Although the state's proposal doesn't specifically address fuel efficiency, auto makers say it could force them to reach a mileage target of nearly 44 mpg. The top-selling U.S. car, the Toyota Camry, gets 25 mpg in combined city and highway driving, according to the EPA figures reported to consumers.
More than a dozen states, representing roughly half the U.S. auto market, are looking to adopt the California rule. Auto makers say that could require them to sell different vehicles in those markets.
"If that [EPA] waiver was granted and we saw a proliferation of rules and regulations, we would have a national food fight on CO2 and regulation," said Dave McCurdy, a top auto lobbyist. "What the industry asks for is some consistency and predictability."
The effort could result in greater nationwide fuel efficiency, environmentalists say. Auto makers "can choose to make one line of cars that meets the California standard nationwide," said David Doniger, a policy director at the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group involved in the litigation between California and the auto industry.
Auto makers say that each state could enforce the California rule differently, forcing them to tailor their vehicle fleets to each state.
California can set stricter emissions standards than the federal government does under the federal Clean Air Act, a nod to the state's history of dirty air, but it must get an EPA waiver to do so. The EPA had repeatedly given California permission to set stricter clean-air standards in the past, but allowing the state to take on CO2 from vehicle tailpipes would have crossed a new threshold.
In denying the waiver last night, Mr. Johnson said California didn't prove it had a specific, compelling need to go beyond federal law. "California is not exclusive in facing this challenge," Mr. Johnson said. He said a national standard is "a better approach than if individual states were to act alone."
Sen. Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat who chairs the Senate Environment committee, said she will push for Congress to overturn the EPA's decision. "To hide behind the energy bill flies in the face of the Supreme Court decision on greenhouse-gas emissions," Ms. Boxer said. "This is going to become an issue in the presidential race."
In pushing for new federal rules, the Bush administration's focus has been more on curbing oil imports than stemming global warming. With the passage of the energy bill, many environmental groups suspected the administration would embrace the fuel-economy increases mandated by the new energy bill as its de facto approach to tackling CO2 emissions, deny California's waiver and stop short of additional regulation.
If the Bush administration relies on the congressionally mandated fuel-economy increases as the main way to reduce CO2 emissions from vehicles, it may end up providing much of the regulatory clarity sought by the auto industry. However, the Supreme Court's ruling this year that the EPA must study and potentially regulate CO2 emissions all but ensures the battle will drag on beyond 2008, regardless of the administration's next steps.
The wrangling over California's emissions standards reflects a broader predicament facing auto makers: In the past year, the courts have applied the most pressure on auto companies to cut CO2 emissions and increase fuel efficiency.
U.S. District Judge Anthony W. Ishii in California last week rejected auto makers' arguments that the state's plan to regulate tailpipe emissions illegally usurps powers reserved for federal regulators. Current law gives federal regulators the authority to "reformulate" national mileage rules to "harmonize" with stricter policies enacted in California, Judge Ishii ruled.
Judge Ishii's decision capped a series of court setbacks for auto makers. In addition to the Supreme Court ruling that the EPA can regulate CO2 emissions from cars and trucks, a federal judge in Vermont rejected the industry's attempt to block the state from implementing California's tailpipe-emissions rules.
