California...
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- omgitsacamera
...we might get our own sets of cars!
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/2…
WASHINGTON — President Obama on Monday will direct federal regulators to move swiftly to grant California and 13 other states the right to set strict automobile emissions and fuel efficiency standards, two administration officials said Sunday evening.
The directive makes good on an Obama campaign pledge and marks a sharp reversal from Bush administration policy. Granting California and the other states the right to regulate tailpipe emissions is one of the most dramatic actions Mr. Obama can take to quickly put his stamp on environmental policy.
The presidential orders will require automobile manufacturers to begin producing and selling cars and trucks that get higher mileage than the national standard, and on a faster phase-in schedule. The auto companies had lobbied hard against the regulations and challenged them in court.
Mr. Obama will use the announcement of his latest directive to bolster the impression of a sharp break from the Bush era on all fronts. It follows his decisions last week to close the detention facility at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, tighten limits on interrogation tactics by CIA officers, order plans to withdraw combat forces from Iraq and reverse Mr. Bush’s financing restrictions on groups that provide or discuss abortion overseas.
Beyond the California waiver, officials said, Mr. Obama will announce that he is moving forward with nationwide regulations requiring the automobile industry to increase fuel efficiency standards, rules that the Bush administration decided at the last minute not to issue. He will also order federal departments and agencies to find new ways to save energy and be more environmentally friendly. And he will highlight the elements in his economic plan intended to create new jobs around renewable energy.
The announcements, likely to be made in the East Room, will kick off a week of efforts to get the economy plan through Congress. The White House hopes the Senate will confirm Timothy F. Geithner as Treasury secretary on Monday, and Mr. Obama plans to travel to Capitol Hill on Tuesday to meet with both Senate and House Republican caucuses and lobby for his stimulus package. Mr. Obama’s aides expect the House to vote on its plan on Wednesday.
In a White House announcement scheduled for Monday morning, Mr. Obama will also direct federal agencies to immediately begin work on making all government buildings more energy efficient, with an eye toward saving as much as $2 billion a year and reducing the emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases blamed for the warming of the planet.
He will also direct the Department of Transportation to immediately begin drafting automobile fuel-economy regulations to comply with a law enacted in December 2007. Former President Bush delayed implementation of the law and left office saying there was not sufficient time to write the rules.
But the centerpiece of Monday’s East Room announcement is Mr. Obama’s directive to the Environmental Protection Agency to immediately begin work on granting the so-called California waiver, which allows the state, a longtime leader in air quality matters, to set its own standards for automobile emissions. The Bush administration denied the waiver in late 2007, saying that allowing California and the 13 other states the right to set their own pollution rules would result in an unenforceable patchwork of environmental law. The automakers had advocated such a position, saying it would require them to produce two sets of vehicles, one to meet the strict California standard and another that could be sold in the remaining states.
- kgvs720
Well if the auto industry received cheap loans, they have to do their part, and specially WE have to do our part.
With gas being this low I'm not sure how effective the emissions and mpg standards are going to be.
- ok_not_ok0
Just what California needs...more Traffic congestion.
- Point50
Any "part" that the auto industry does is going to come back to rape the consumer, whether it be in the form of higher taxes to take the edge off of the bailouts or the usual financing/pricing gimmicks that the dealers pull. One way or another WE will pay for this out of our pockets and the fat hogs in the board rooms will eat cake.
long live capitalism!
- ukit0
This is a big deal. If this happens in California it essentially means the change will happen across the U.S.
- ukit0
"The California standards will reduce overall greenhouse gas emission from passenger cars 18 percent by 2020 and 27 percent by 2030. They will go into effect later this year in California, Arizona, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Connecticut, Oregon, Maine, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Vermont, Washington and Massachusetts. In addition Colorado, North Carolina, Florida, Minnesota Iowa and Utah are considering implementing the standards."