Coast states drive to regulate vehicle emissions

In an Associated Press (AP) news release Sunday, both Oregon and Washington ready "to adopt California's new vehicle emission standards to reduce greenhouse gases."

Under the federal 1990 Clean Air Act states are to develop state implementation plans (SIPs.) California's Chapter 200, Statutes of 2002 (AB 1493, Pavley) directs the Air Resources Board (ARB) to adopt regulations that achieve the maximum feasible and cost effective reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles. California's standards are higher than federal regulations and states may choose to adopt California's standards or the less restrictive federal standards.

The stiffer requirements would mean new cars sold in the state would have to emit 30 percent less carbon dioxide, 20 percent fewer toxic pollutants and up to 20 percent fewer smog-causing pollutants than the established federal standards.

Although the auto industry's position is that a state lacks sufficient authority to implement such regulations and is currently suing California, the article continues that six northeastern states -- New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Vermont and Maine, as reported by the Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management (NESCAUM) -- are considering to similarly adopt California's newer vehicle emissions standards.

Most northeastern states have followed California vehicle emission rules for years, and now those states are making the change to reflect California's latest rules regulating carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles.

Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski is reported to have stated, "If the federal government doesn't want to move forward on global warming, then the states are going to have to do it."

Report to the (CA) Legislature and the Governor on Regulations to Control Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Motor Vehicles, December 2004
(available in PDF, 400K, from ARB)