Global Warming News

Testimony of Jason Barbose, Global Warming Advocate,
Environment California Research & Policy Center

Regulations to Control Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Motor Vehicles; Request for Waiver of Preemption Under Clean Air Act Section 209(b),
DOCKET ID: EPA-HQ-OAR-2006- 0173

May 30, 2007 

My name is Jason Barbose and I am a Global Warming Advocate at Environment
California Research & Policy Center.  We are a statewide citizen-based environmental advocacy organization that represents approximately 70,000 Californians. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak today on this urgent matter. 

Theextraordinary and compelling risks global warming poses to California require immediate and well-reasoned solutions.  As such, it is with great purpose that state officials in California have taken action to cut global warming pollution, and with great urgency that we ask the EPA to grant California’s waiver request for greenhouse gas emissions standards for motor vehicles.

Scientists worldwide are sounding alarm bells about the consequences of global warming.  This year the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is releasing the current state of climate science after a rigorous multi-year process that included extensive review by scientists and governments worldwide, including the United States.  The IPCC found that the evidence of global warming is “unequivocal” and that it is very likely (greater than 90 percent probability) that human activities – primarily the burning of fossil fuels – are responsible for most of the observed increase in global average temperature since the mid-20th century.

For years scientists and government officials have done extensive research in California about the particular threats global warming poses to our state’s environment, public health, and economy.  They have found that the challenges are tremendous: 

o        In California we are always at risk of drought, but studies show global warming could nearly drain our Sierra snowpack, depleting water supplies for both people and agriculture. 

o        In California, we already suffer from the worst air quality in the nation, but global warming could increase by 75% the number of days conducive to smog formation in the San Joaquin Valley and Los Angeles basin.

o        In California, we are home to an amazing array of natural environments unmatched in any other state, and yet global warming could dramatically alter these important ecological systems.

The good news is that the IPCC has also concluded that we can avoid or reduce many of these impacts if we quickly and significantly reduce global warming pollution.  More precisely, we need to reduce global warming emissions from today’s levels by the end of this decade, by at least 15-20% by 2020, and by at least 80% by 2050 in order to avoid the worst impacts of global warming.

Unfortunately, the facts show we have been on an alternate trajectory.  Global warming emissions rose 17% nationwide between 1990 and 2005, and by nearly the same rate in California.  A large part of this emissions increase is attributable to cars and light trucks.  The transportation sector accounts for over 40% of greenhouse gas emissions statewide, with carbon dioxide emissions from motor gasoline consumption increasing 15 percent in California between 1990 and 2004, from 111 million metric tons to 128 million metric tons.

In seeing the compelling need to cut global warming pollution, the extraordinary consequences of failing to do so, and the major contribution that cars and SUVs make to the problem, California officials made a rational response.  They undertook a multi-year process that included careful and measured technical review and public input to create first-in-the-nation standards to cut global warming pollution from cars and light trucks.

California’s greenhouse gas standards for motor vehicles would require new cars to emit 34% less global warming pollution on average in 2016, and light trucks 25% less. The standards can be met with technology already in the market and will save vehicle owners in lower maintenance and operating costs over the lifetimes of the vehicle.  The standards give automakers flexibility to apply any technology they choose to reduce global warming emissions, including production of vehicles that use lower carbon fuels.

Since 2004, 11 other states have adopted the California tailpipe emissions standards.  Together these states account for more than one-third of the U.S. auto market.  According to Environment California analysis, by 2020 the cumulative emissions reductions achieved in these 12 states will be equivalent to taking 74 million of today’s cars off the road for an entire year.[vii]  This is a big dent in the emissions reductions we need to avoid the worst effects of global warming.

Unfortunately, without the EPA’s stamp of approval, California and these 11 states will not be able to take this important step toward cutting global warming pollution from tailpipes.  Fortunately, California’s standards were carefully crafted to meet the various criteria for a waiver of preemption under the Clean Air Act.  The standards are obviously as protective of public health and welfare as federal standards because the federal government has refused to set any global warming emission standards for vehicles.  The standards meet compelling and extraordinary conditions California faces from climate change.  In all, the standards are consistent with the Clean Air Act, given the wealth of evidence that they are technologically feasible and that the required test procedures are consistent with EPA’s requirements.

Global warming demands immediate action at the local, state and federal levels.  Given the risks, it is grossly irresponsible for the federal government to reject limits on global warming pollution, but it is unconscionable for EPA to stand in the way of state action and leadership.  On behalf of Environment California, I respectfully urge the EPA to grant California’s waiver request and remove the current roadblock to cleaner cars.