By Bill Haller, Sierra Club California Activist
On April 1st the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in cooperation with the California Air Resources Board will release the first-ever national greenhouse gas standards for passenger vehicles. If you’re still waking up to the first few sips of your morning coffee, you may want to read that first sentence over again.
It boggles the mind. To cut greenhouse gases, create real jobs, reduce our oil dependency and in the process, better secure our nation, the Obama administration, U.S. EPA, the National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration and Cal EPA through CARB put their heads together to come up with new standards for auto emissions for 2016 and beyond.
Me, I’m flabbergasted because for the last two decades the needle has barely moved on national fuel efficiency standards. Now it’s going to be set at 35 mpg. Somebody pinch me.
As a 52 year-old dad of two young kids (Little League for him, ballet and tap for her), a consumer (18 mpg when we roll the family van in neutral down a hill) and a Sierra Club volunteer (one of 150,000 treehuggers in California), I want to have the option to purchase a greener vehicle like a plug in hybrid or a battery electric vehicle. But what I really want is a cleaner, greener and more prosperous future for my kids. I know it sounds weird for me to say, but thanks to my government, that future is now more a reality than ever before. Oh, c’mon, you knew Detroit and Big Oil were never going to do it on their own.
Getting rid of harmful greenhouse gases is not only good for our environment but it also guarantees that all Americans benefit from clean breathable air including our elderly, the infirm, you, me, the kids. We save money at the gas pump, reduce our dangerous dependence on oil, create new jobs and ensure California’s global leadership in advancing technology for greener vehicles. According to the Public Policy Institute of California, passenger vehicles are responsible for over 70 percent of greenhouse gas pollution in our state. With about 30 million cars tooling around California’s freeways every day, that is why these new federal standards for greener vehicles are so important.
Happy? Me too.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
California’s Global Warming Leadership: A Win For Green Vehicles, Jobs and Oil Independence
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Cleaner Cars in Our Future, Thanks to California and Obama
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
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
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Sierra Club Hails Obama Plan for Clean Cars Plan Mirrors Landmark California Effort to Slash Oil Dependence, Emissions
Washington, D.C.--President Obama will tomorrow announce a comprehensive national standard addressing fuel economy and global warming emissions from our cars, trucks, and SUVs. Media reports indicate that the new national standard roughly mirrors the proposed California clean car standards—cutting global warming emissions approximately 30 percent by 2016 and significantly increasing fuel economy This is the first national tailpipe standard for global warming emissions. The administration will also reportedly grant California the Clean Air Act waiver for its clean cars program that it has long been seeking and was unlawfully denied by the Bush administration.
Statement of Carl Pope, Sierra Club Executive Director
"President Obama is putting the pedal to the floor when it comes to slashing our dependence on oil and confronting global warming. Last month the administration closed the books on the Bush era of climate denial once and for all by acknowledging the threat of global warming, and now today they moving forward with a plan that will give new life to the American auto industry and ensure that the next generation of clean, efficient autos will be made right here in the U.S.A
"In addition to dramatically reducing the global warming emissions from our vehicles, this move will slash our dependence on oil and make us more energy independent. Congress put us on the road toward more fuel efficient vehicles two years ago when it passed the first increase in fuel economy standards in more than 30 years. Now President Obama is dramatically accelerating our progress.
"In another clean break with the unlawful and irrational policies of its predecessor, the Obama administration will also reportedly grant California its longstanding request for a Clean Air Act waiver for its landmark clean cars program. This is yet another strong example of the new direction President Obama and EPA Administrator Jackson have taken—one based on the rule of law and sound science, not petty politics.
"Today's announcement is one of the most significant efforts undertaken by any president, ever, to end our addiction to oil and seriously slash our global warming emissions. The speed with which the Obama administration is moving to build the clean energy economy has been breathtaking. President Obama clearly sees the big picture when comes to rebuilding our economy, making the clean energy future a reality, and fighting global warming. "
Click here to read a related article from the LA Times.
