Print

Email story

Comment

Letter to the editor

States sue over emissions waiver

By Washington Post
Published January 3, 2008

NEW YORK - California, joined by 15 other states led by New York, sued the Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday over its refusal to allow the state to set its own, tougher vehicle emissions standards to control greenhouse gases and combat global warming.

The suit was filed in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, two weeks after the EPA's decision to turn down California's request for a waiver that would have allowed it to begin implementing a landmark 2004 law limiting carbon dioxide output. That law requires new vehicles to cut tailpipe emissions by a third by 2016, which California officials said would result in a fuel efficiency standard of 36.8 miles per gallon.

Such waivers, routinely granted to California under the 1970 Clean Air Act, have allowed the state to set its own air pollution standards with federal approval. As a result, California has often been a national leader in developing air quality protections.

This time, however, EPA director Stephen Johnson said a single federal policy would be more efficient than a confusing patchwork of state laws. In December, President Bush signed an energy bill that would raise vehicle fuel efficiency standards nationwide to 35 mpg by the year 2020, four years later than the California mandate.

The coalition includes Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.

Also Wednesday, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif, asked for a formal investigation into Johnson's decision to deny the waiver, saying he ignored the advice of the EPA's technical staff and consulted with the White House before denying it.

[Last modified January 3, 2008, 01:34:57]