Cleaner Cars in Our Future, Thanks to California and Obama

Statement of Bill Magavern, Director of Sierra Club California

The Environmental Protection Agency today reversed one of the most controversial decisions of the previous administration and granted California the Clean Air Act "waiver" that it and more than a dozen other states need to move forward with their landmark global warming emissions standards for vehicles. Today's announcement will be followed by a rulemaking process for the Obama administration's comprehensive national plan for clean cars.

Granting the waiver will allow California and the other states to move forward with standards for the model years 2009-2016. President Obama recently announced a national standard mirroring California's effort to cut global warming emissions from tailpipes 30 percent by 2016. That standard will be in effect for the model years 2012-2016, during which time California and the other states shall defer to the national standard.

This is a huge win for Sierra Club California and the national effort to reduce the pollution that causes global warming! We were a sponsor of the first-ever law to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles (AB 1493, Pavley, 2002), and continued to back it through implementation at the Air Resources Board. We have joined Governor Schwarzenegger many times in calling on USEPA to get out of the way and grant CA the necessary waiver to allow our standards to go into effect, and now President Obama has kept his promise to do exactly that. In fact, he's done even better, by establishing a national GHG standard that is based on the California rules. Later this year, ARB will begin the process of setting tighter standards to continue ratcheting down emissions during the 2017-2025 period.

Obama EPA Paves the Way for Clean Cars

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
June 30, 2009CONTACT:
Josh Dorner, 202.675.2384

Obama EPA Paves the Way for Clean Cars

Long-Sought Decision on Waiver Allows California,

Other States to Slash Oil Dependence, Tackle Warming

Washington, D.C.--The Environmental Protection Agency today reversed one ofthe most controversial decisions of the previous administration and grantedCalifornia the Clean Air Act "waiver" that it and more than a dozen otherstates need to move forward with their landmark global warming emissionsstandards for vehicles. Today's announcement will be followed by arulemaking process for the Obama administration's comprehensive nationalplan for clean cars.

Granting the waiver will allow California and the other states to moveforward with standards for the model years 2009-2016. President Obamarecently announced a national standard mirroring California's effort to cutglobal warming emissions from tailpipes 30 percent by 2016. That standardwill be in effect for the model years 2012-2016, during which timeCalifornia and the other states shall defer to the national standard.

The Sierra Club plans to present Administrator Jackson with a signed thankyou card from citizens across the country who submitted their photos aspart of testimony urging EPA to approve the waiver. That image can be seenhere: http://action.sierraclub.org/site/MessageViewer?em_id=94781.0

Victory Agaisnt Offshore Oil Drilling

As the statement below from Assemblymember Pedro Nava explains, we have prevailed (for now) in keeping out of the budget the Governor’s proposal to allow new drilling off the Santa Barbara Coast.

Assemblymember Nava worked this issue like I have rarely ever seen a legislator work, tirelessly lobbying his colleagues to reject the PXP drilling proposal.

Sierra Club California’s advocate, Michael Endicott, took the lead for the environmental community inside the Capitol, doing a great job of pointing out the flaws in the proposal.

Bill Magavern

Director

Assemblymember's Pedro Nava's statement

From the Capitol Weekly: Offshore oil drilling, once abhorred, gains in the Capitol

No Budget Hostages

Environmental, consumer and labor leaders came together this week to call on legislative leaders to resist efforts to use California’s budget crisis to roll back vital safeguards:

June 1, 2009

Assemblywoman Karen Bass
Speaker, California State Assembly
State Capitol, Room 219
Sacramento, CA 95814
Senator Darrell Steinberg

President pro Tempore, California State Senate
State Capitol, Room 205
Sacramento, CA 95814


Dear Speaker Bass and President pro Tempore Steinberg:

In addressing this year’s budget crisis, you will be faced with heart wrenching decisions that will impact the lives of every Californian. The budget solutions that have been proposed balance the budget entirely on the backs of the most vulnerable in our state. We understand the magnitude and difficulty of the task you face. As you struggle to craft a budget solution, we urge you to reject any attempts to leverage fundamental policy protections.

In every legislative session, business groups sponsor bills to take away the eight-hour day and weaken basic environmental standards. These bills do not make it through the Legislature because they are bad for workers and bad for California. But some are not satisfied by the results of the democratic process and seek to use the urgency of the budget process to leverage policy changes they cannot otherwise win. Rolling back the eight-hour day, taking away meal periods, scaling back environmental protections, or contracting out services without any standards do nothing to balance our budget. Instead, they cut worker pay, jeopardize health and safety, and cause irreparable harm to our communities. We cannot allow our core values as a state to be used as bargaining chips.

Proposals to strip away basic labor and environmental standards hurt the very people who are already being harmed most by the budget. Working people and the poor face drastic cuts to healthcare and social services. These are the same workers who will see their wages cut from an overtime takeaway, will lose their lunch breaks in the face of employer coercion, and will see their neighborhoods polluted if environmental regulations are reversed. In the midst of record unemployment, reckless contracting out simply means more layoffs with less oversight for our tax dollars. These layoffs will hit low-wage workers the hardest and will exacerbate the problem by trapping more families in poverty.

For these reasons, we urge you to reject policy rollbacks as part of any budget deal.

Sincerely,

Angie Wei
Legislative Director, California Labor Federation

Bill Magavern
Director, Sierra Club California

Warner Chabot
CEO, California League of Conservation Voters

Christine Spagnoli
President, Consumer Attorneys of California