Posted on 04/25/2007 8:33:24 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
SACRAMENTO – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday said his administration will sue the Environmental Protection Agency if it fails to act more quickly on California's request to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles.
Schwarzenegger said he called EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson on Wednesday and told him his agency was moving too slowly on California's 2005 request for a waiver to the federal Clean Air Act. The waiver, if granted by the EPA, would allow California to more aggressively regulate greenhouse gases as air pollutants.
“If we don't see quick action from the government, we will sue the U.S. EPA,” Schwarzenegger said during a luncheon speech in Beverly Hills, addressing the Milken Institute's annual global conference.
The administration's letter announcing the intent to sue, a procedural step that is required six months before a lawsuit would be filed, was sent to the EPA on Wednesday, Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear said.
In the letter, Schwarzenegger demands that the EPA act on California's waiver request within 180 days.
“Failure to take action by the end of October would mean that more than 22 months have passed with no decision,” Schwarzenegger wrote. “This is clearly an unreasonable delay.”
The EPA had delayed acting on California's request because the agency maintained it did not have the authority to regulate the gases that contribute to global warming. However, the state's request was revived earlier this month when the U.S. Supreme Court decided that the EPA does have the authority to regulate greenhouse gases, a position that had long been rejected by the Bush administration.
On Tuesday, Johnson told senators that he had begun the formal process to act on California's request. That involves a public hearing May 22 in Washington and a public comment period that ends June 15.
But Johnson refused to set a timetable specifying when the agency would issue a decision on California's request.
“We will move expeditiously, but we are going to be moving responsibly,” Johnson told the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
Responding Wednesday to Schwarzenegger's letter, EPA spokeswoman Jennifer Wood said the agency was moving forward with California's request. She said a final decision will be made at the end of the comment period.
The 5-4 Supreme Court decision did not require the EPA to regulate greenhouse gases. But it does say the agency must show that carbon dioxide emissions are not a danger to public health if it chooses not regulate them under the Clean Air Act.
The committee's chairwoman, Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said she expected the EPA to make a decision by the middle of the summer and would call agency officials back before her panel after the comment period had closed.
California's waiver is needed for the state to implement a 2002 state law that would require automakers to reduce emissions by 25 percent from cars and light trucks and 18 percent from sport utility vehicles starting with the 2009 model year.
The waiver also carries implications for at least 10 other states that have adopted California's standard. Federal law allows states to choose between the federal and the California rules.
The auto regulations are a major part of California's strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The state is the world's 12th largest producer of the emissions blamed for warming the earth and contributing to global climate change.
A separate 2006 state law requires emissions to be reduced 25 percent by 2020. That law requires California to reduce emissions by an estimated 174 million metric tons.
The auto regulations would account for about 17 percent of the state's target, according to the California Air Resources Board. If the EPA rejects the auto-emission waiver, California regulators would have to rethink how the state could meet its goals.
Schwarzenegger met with Johnson earlier this month to press him on the waiver request but left Washington without a commitment. The governor last year sent two letters to President Bush seeking action.
“It looks like the EPA is trying to drown the waiver process,” said Karen Douglas, who directs climate change issues in California for Environmental Defense, a national environmental group. “They've offered to hold hearings, but what we really want to see from EPA is fast action dealing with global warming pollution.”
In addition to the waiver, the 2002 auto regulations are the subject of lawsuits in California and Vermont. Automakers have sued the states, saying the emission standards are akin to fuel economy standards, which can be set only by the federal government.
On the Net:
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger:
http://www.gov.ca.gov
California Air Resources Board:
http://www.arb.ca.gov
Environmental Protection Agency:
http://www.epa.gov
Ahnald, this guy is as RINO as it gets. Why doesn`t he just give it up and come out of his lib closet?
He dropped out of the belly of a Trojan Horse a long time ago and has been wreaking havoc ever since. Post-Partisan, muh butt..
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Let me check...Hmmmmm, yep...The atmosphere is still composed of 0.0383% CO2 which you can literally read as zero point zero. Oh wait, liberals say it`s gone up to 0.0390% which is their main proof for global warming. Yes, I understand, we`ve gone from zero point zero to zero point zero. Run for your lives!
Let California do whatever it wants.
Who cares?
Since the market for the compliant vehicles would be mainly in those two states, the manufacturers could support higher prices on those models than they ask now since there would probably be waiting lists for the scarce compliant vehicles. Only when the dumba$$ electorate in those states is forced to pay for their green desires will they start to consider the cost of their advocacy.
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