EPA Grants Emissions Standards Waiver For California

(RTTNews) - President Barack Obama has followed through on a promise to grant California permission to set its own emissions standards, as the Environmental Protection Agency has granted California's waiver request.

Obama had asked the agency to review the waiver in January, and after a few months the ban on states like California requiring tougher admissions standards has been lifted.

The standards were developed by the state in 2004, although California was banned from implementing them under the determination that it was unfair for one state to have emissions standards that are tougher than the federal standards.

Senator Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., issued a statement following the news, saying, "The granting of this waiver will unleash innovative technologies that will create millions of clean energy jobs as we move toward new cleaner and more efficient vehicles."

"It should be comforting to the American people to know that the Environmental Protection Agency is now putting science and the law back into the driver's seat rather than politics and special interests," she added.

By requiring tougher standards, the government would help embattled American automakers prepare for the future by building the cars of tomorrow.

However, not everyone is a fan of the uneven emission standards. Back in January, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., responded to Obama's request that the EPA review the waiver with a warning that allowing states to set their own emission standards could be "discriminatory against U.S.-made vehicles."

"A separate California standard will not only create the 'confusing and patchwork set of standards' that President Obama today implied he wanted to avoid, but also, as the California standard is currently drafted, it is discriminatory against U.S.-made vehicles of the same efficiency as the imports," Levin said at the time.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called the decision a "huge step for our emerging green economy that will create thousands of new jobs and bring Californians the cars they want while reducing greenhouse gas emissions."

The Association of International Automobile Manufacturers, Inc. also issued a statement on the decision, stating that they anticipated the waiver would be removed once national emission standards were strengthened.

"AIAM and its member companies have long supported a single, national program to improve fuel economy and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) emissions," the organization said. "Consequently, we were pleased with the President's recent announcement that the State of California, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) reached an agreement with the auto industry on the basic parameters of a national program extending through model year 2016."

"In light of this agreement, AIAM anticipated that EPA would grant the waiver," they added. "We are now focused on working with California, EPA and NHTSA to finalize the operational details of this harmonized program and to continue meeting aggressive goals for cleaner, more fuel-efficient vehicles."

In May, President Obama announced his goal for new fuel standards, proposing standards that would require an average fuel economy of 35.5 miles per gallon for automobiles, beginning in the year 2016. This exceeds the current law both in the speeding up the transition and enforcing tougher fuel standards.

"The goal is to set one national standard," Obama said at the White House.

The new standards, covering model years 2012-2016, and ultimately requiring an average fuel economy standard of 35.5 mpg in 2016, are projected to save 1.8 billion barrels of oil over the life of the program with a fuel economy gain averaging more than 5 percent per year and a reduction of approximately 900 million metric tons in greenhouse gas emissions, the White House said.

The current laws require an average fuel economy of 35 mpg by 2020.

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