Environment California today commended the National
Research Council, an arm of the National Academy of Sciences, for resisting
pressure from special interests to erode the ability of states to protect their
citizens from air pollution and global warming.
In a report released today, the NRC affirmed the vital role that states
play in reducing pollution from cars, diesel trucks, and other moving sources.
The auto industry had strongly urged the NRC to
recommend that Congress change the Clean Air Act to create additional red tape
for states that want to adopt more protective emission standards.
“California and
other states are leading the charge in reducing air pollution and global
warming,” said Environment California Field Organizer Moira Chapin. “The last thing we need is for the federal
government to create more red tape for states that are tackling these
problems.”
Instead, the NRC concluded that the states’ efforts
have improved air quality. The NRC did
not recommend any legislative or regulatory changes in the current process by
which states adopt emission standards—changes that would further restrict the
states’ rights to protect citizens’ health.
California
has led the country by adopting emission standards that are more protective
than the federal standards for cars and light trucks.
In February, Environment California released
a report showing that the clean cars programs now in effect in 10 states will
reduce global warming pollution by 64 million metric tons per year in 2020, an
amount greater than the national emissions of more than 140 nations.
States have long been at the forefront
of policies to reduce air pollution and global warming. Under the Clean Air Act, California—which
suffers from the worst air pollution in the nation—has unique authority to
adopt emissions standards for mobile sources that are more protective than
federal standards. Other states with
poor air quality can then adopt California’s
more stringent standards.
In the report, the NRC states, “California
has used its authority as Congress envisioned: to implement more aggressive
measures than the rest of the country and to serve as a laboratory for
technological innovation.” The NRC calls
California’s
more protective emission standards “a proving ground for new emissions-control
technologies that benefit California
and the rest of the nation.”
Overall, 15 states and the District of
Columbia—which with California accounts for more than half of the U.S.
population—have adopted one or more of California’s emissions standards
for
cars and light trucks, diesel trucks, or other mobile sources. In
2005 alone, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey,
Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington adopted California’s
rules to limit global
warming pollution from passenger vehicles.
The NRC report stems from an amendment
that U.S. Senator Kit Bond of Missouri
inserted into the fiscal year 2003 omnibus appropriations bill,
directing the
NRC to study state practices in setting emission standards for cars,
trucks,
and other mobile sources of air pollution.
Later in 2003, Senator Bond sponsored the first weakening of states’
authority under the Clean Air Act in the law’s 35-year history; the law
now precludes every state but California from adopting more protective
standards for the engines used in lawnmowers and garden equipment.
The report recommends that EPA expedite
the process for reviewing California’s
standards. The panel also considered
ways to modify the process by which other states adopt California’s
standards but did not agree on a specific recommendation.
In 2005, at least 16 states, including California,
wrote to the NRC to urge the panel not to make it harder for states to tackle
air pollution and global warming.
Nationwide,
159 million people live in counties that violate the national health standard for
ozone “smog” pollution and 95 million people live in counties that violate the
health standard for fine particle “soot” pollution. Cars, trucks, and other mobile sources are
the largest source of smog pollution and major contributors to soot pollution. These pollutants cut short the lives of tens
of thousands of Americans each year and contribute to serious respiratory and
cardiovascular problems, including asthma attacks, lung cancer, and heart
disease. In addition, mobile sources
release one-third of the nation’s emissions of carbon dioxide, the leading
global warming pollutant.
