It's been in the works since the day Obama took office and now it's official. California can now set its own standards for vehicle emissions, a change that effectively allows the state to regulate fuel mileage.
Several states have already said they will follow California's lead in this area, so the new rules are expected to become a national standard in the near future.
EPA Grants California GHG Waiver
billt9 says:
12:08 PM, 06/30/09
The whole USA should have one standard. Let's just all go with California's higher standard.
California's population density is pretty darn low too, so it's not like they have the most pollution in the first place. Other states have worse pollution problems.
clarkma5 says:
12:21 PM, 06/30/09
Average population density perhaps, billt9, but you have to realize that huge swaths of the state are practically deserted.
And when it comes to talking about "california pollution", at least when it comes to cars, you're basically just talking about Los Angeles, with a very high population density combined with climate and geography that are extremely conducive to creating and trapping pollutants.
estreka says:
12:49 PM, 06/30/09
Agreed. LA is its own hell. The rest of California is fairly relaxing.
As far as the legislation is concerned, I'm bittersweet about it. I don't think emissions need to be tightened to the Nth degree. I am happy, however, to see mileage standards set state by state. Let the states manage their own gas guzzler taxation.
compliance says:
03:34 PM, 06/30/09
Every time I see an LA school bus driving around spewing black smoke I want to punch someone. If they want to improve air quality, how about they start with their own fleet first. They can worry about my sports car later.
stovt001 says:
03:57 PM, 06/30/09
+1 to compliance. Government is absolutely broken in California, and the knee-jerk solution is to legislate the masses instead of fixing the government's own failings.
I grew up just north of LA and still live in the area. The pollution used to be really bad, and in my short lifetime I've seen a significant improvement. LA is a smog basin and it does have a heavy population density, so it really does need pollution controls in place at all levels, starting with the government on down to the citizen. Despite my libertarian views I absolutely see the need for controls in Los Angeles. The rest of California, except the Bay Area, has no excuse except the desire to exert more arbitrary control over the people.
billt9 says:
05:00 PM, 06/30/09
ya quit regulating gas engines.
Regulate diesel engines.
Those school bus/dump truck/work truck diesels look like they're causing 99% of the road pollution.
It ain't CO2 that causes pollution. CO2 causes global warming and no air pollution.
Particulates causes air pollution. That's diesel's problem. They keep all the old diesel vehicles on the road too long.
cwc1 says:
06:09 PM, 06/30/09
A relatively small number of vehicles cause most of the air pollution. It's not new cars, or even modern diesel engines. It's the ones that are worn out and in bad repair that need to be fixed, or taken out of use. Because many of these are owned by those who supposedly can't afford to fix them, I don't think it's likely, unfortunately.
Carbon dioxide has been crafted as the perfect villain and excuse to get more government into peoples' lives, on a totally false premise.
Humans and other animals exhale carbon dioxide and are carbon based. We have a symbiotic relationship with plant life. Are they going to try to regulate us too, to an even larger degree? Apparently...