Free Republic

Seventeen states with vehicle emission standards tied to rules established in California face weighty decisions on whether to follow that state's strictest-in-the nation new rules that require all new cars, pickups and SUVs to be electric or hydrogen powered by 2035. Under the Clean Air Act, states must abide by the federal government's standard vehicle emissions standards unless they at least partially opt to follow California's stricter requirements. States including Washington, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon and Vermont are expected to adopt California´s ban on new gasoline-fueled vehicles.

A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld the Environmental Protection Agency's first emission standards for mercury and other hazardous air pollutants from coal- and oil-fired power plants. In its ruling, the court rejected state and industry challenges to rules designed to clean up chromium, arsenic, acid gases, nickel, cadmium as well as mercury and other dangerous toxins. The EPA’s determination in 2000 that regulating emission standards is appropriate and necessary, and the agency’s reaffirmation of that determination in 2012, “are amply supported by EPA’s findings regarding the health effects of mercury exposure,” said the court. Congress did not specify what...

Strict car emission rules look likely By KYLE ARNOLD OLYMPIA -- Washington is likely to join California and six other states in adopting tighter vehicle emissions standards, despite protests from auto dealers. The proposal, which is drawing strong support in the Legislature, would require the state to adopt the tougher regulations starting in 2009. By 2016, all new cars sold in Washington would have to comply with the new standards, with proponents claiming that emissions would be reduced by 30 percent. The rules would apply only to cars and light duty trucks. The federal Clean Air Act allows states either...

OXFORD, MISS. -- Bloomington-based Toro Co. will close its lawnmower engine plant in Oxford in January, idling 120 workers. Employees were informed Tuesday. Because the lawnmower engines they had been making for nearly 20 years were essentially banned under new federal emissions standards, the announcement came as no surprise to many employees and community members. Toro, in a statement released Thursday, said it had tried to find a way to keep the Oxford plant open, but closing was the only option.