Posted on 09/17/2006 11:53:59 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
HARRISBURG, Pa.
Pennsylvania is poised to adopt pollution standards that would require new cars to be cleaner-burning a year from now and put the state in lockstep with California's efforts to impose even more stringent requirements by 2009.
Smog-reduction rules expected to be adopted for the 2008 model year would have little or no impact on the price of cars or the way they drive, state and industry officials say.
But more stringent greenhouse-gas reductions being sought by California on 2009 model-year cars would result in higher car prices, though advocates and opponents disagree about the amount. Automakers also say the greenhouse-gas standard, now the subject of litigation, would force them to make smaller cars with less horsepower.
Two state oversight boards are set to meet in the coming weeks to decide whether Pennsylvania should follow California standards.
Approval appears likely. The administration of Gov. Ed Rendell strongly supports adopting California's tougher pollution standards, while legislation that would prevent or delay such action has stalled in a House committee.
The Environmental Quality Board is set to vote Tuesday, while the Independent Regulatory Review Commission would have 30 days to accept or reject the decision. Rendell and state lawmakers have appointees on both boards.
Rendell's top environmental protection official, Kathleen A. McGinty, said Pennsylvania needs to cut vehicle pollution to help the majority of the state's counties meet federal air quality standards.
The alternative is forcing expensive pollution cutbacks onto the state's heavy industries and power plants or losing federal highway dollars, McGinty said. If Pennsylvania adopts California's pollution standard, and California's greenhouse-gas rule survives the legal challenge, new cars will get better mileage offsetting any sticker-price increases, she said.
"The evidence points to customers realizing a savings," McGinty said.
Nine other states, including New York and New Jersey, now follow the California standard. California is able to set its own rules which states have the option of choosing over the federal government's less stringent standards because it began regulating vehicle pollution before the federal government.
At Feduke Ford in Vestal, N.Y., sales manager Peter McEvoy said customers have not noticed any difference since New York began enforcing the tougher smog standard that Pennsylvania is considering.
"In fact, we often sell vehicles to customers in Pennsylvania with the lower emissions equipment on it," he said.
For now, California's pollution standard means cars must produce less smog-forming nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds, as well as less cancer-causing benzene.
California regulators are locked in a legal battle with automakers over the state's efforts to enforce what would be the world's most stringent rules on greenhouse-gas emissions from cars.
If the California Air Resources Board wins the case, 2009 model-year vehicles that are sold to residents of that state as well as other states that follow California's rules would have to produce, on average, 22 percent less tailpipe exhaust.
Heat-trapping greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, are believed by most scientists to contribute to global warming. Reductions in exhaust would also have a side benefit, California regulators say: They would make cars more fuel-efficient.
But automakers and some industry analysts say such a greenhouse-gas standard would mean building smaller cars with smaller engines and more lightweight materials like plastic and aluminum.
"It wouldn't be able to haul as much, it wouldn't be able to tow as much, it wouldn't have the same passenger space, it wouldn't have the same horsepower," said Charles Territo, a spokesman for the Washington, D.C.-based Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, which speaks for nine major foreign and domestic automakers, including Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp.
Territo said sticker prices could be forced up by $3,000. Car companies "would have a very difficult time selling that vehicle to consumers," he said.
In their lawsuit, automakers contend that California's greenhouse-gas standard would not regulate pollution, but fuel economy which is the sole responsibility of the federal government. The case is set to go to trial in January in federal court in Fresno, Calif.
The California Air Resources Board argues that reducing gases that contribute to global warming will yield health benefits and that the requirement should only increase car costs by about $1,000. Only a handful of models currently meet the standard, including gas-electric hybrids.
Some Pennsylvania lawmakers have raised doubts about the wisdom of following standards set in California, and say the Rendell administration is overestimating any air-quality benefit.
Some also question whether higher car prices will prompt motorists to drive their older cars longer, thereby reducing the benefit of the tougher greenhouse-gas standard.
"If these vehicles cost more, people are going to keep their old vehicles more and that slows down fleet turnover," said Patrick Henderson, an aide to state Sen. Mary Jo White, the Venango County Republican who chairs the chamber's Environmental Resources and Energy Committee.
Could a PA resident get around these regs by buying in bordering states...other than NY?
They will institute emissions testing, which drivers would pay for, and if they fail, the car will not be allowed current registration.
I think that emissions testing must allow for what the car was designed to do.So if you buy a car in Oklahoma and then move to California,all that can be expected is that it meet (or comes close to meeting) regulation in effect in OK when the car was made.
I suspect that PA could have a law that says that any car being registered for the first time must meet the stricter regs,or perhaps there's a Federal law that says the same thing.
Probably not, as we have to have a yearly emissions inspection every darn year.
We already have yearly emissions testing -- I'm guessing they'll up the regs for new cars.
One reason people should care what happens in California is because of situations like this. California works out its own set of standards for things like vehicle emissions, textbook contents, etc. and because it's so large, businesses frequently decide to just go with the stricter CA standards for everything they sell. California ends up big-footing the entire country.
Yes,as do many states.But if PA adopts CA standards,one or more bordering states might still have the less stringent ones.And as you may know,it's not at all unusual for resident of one state to buy a new car in another.
Under these circumstances,a buyer could avoid the (substantial) added expense of buying a CA emissions car in such a neighboring state...unless PA or Federal law would forbid that.
Are you certain of that? Have the auto makers decided it's just more efficient to make all cars sold in the US comply with CA? If so,why would the PA legislature even bother passing the law cited in this thread?
I just bought a new car in Kentucky. Every car I looked at said on the sticker that it met emission requirements in all 50 states.
As to the reasons for PA legislature's behavior, I can only say that irrational behavior cannot be attributed to rational thought. IOW, consider the source.
WOW, save money and the planet!
It is CA BAR that sets the standards all states and even the US EPA follow, the EPA comes up with their own stuff too, they generally let CA BAR take the lead (although some states sometimes come up with novel and weird ideas that they implement as regulation before the technology is proven).
I'm not in that business anymore, but when I was most or all auto emmissions equipment had to be certified in CA by CA BAR if used in the US.
Someone should challenge them on this.
That's not accurate. There are a number of models that are sold in 45 states only.
Close enough. I'll bet that the vast majority of cars/models meet CA emission requirements.
Still, I haven't seen those that don't. So, obviously I have not been in those states. I would interested in knowing a little more.
ping
I suppose you could fib, and register/insure it in anther state, but I'd think getting caught would suck.
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