Posted on 01/25/2009 11:38:30 PM PST by Spktyr
Brace yourselves for a mess. The New York Times is reporting that the Obama administration intends to allow California and other states to set their own emissions and fuel economy standards. Obama is expected to announce his decision this week, maybe even as early as today. The move, which Obama campaigned on during the run up to last November's election, would overturn the prior Bush administration's denial of a waiver to California that allows the state to set its own standards.
If the report is correct, it's not clear yet what the implications of the decision will be or how automakers will react. If things proceed in an orderly and organized fashion, it will be a minor miracle. Consumer experiences may well mirror what went on with diesels, most of which were recently unavailable in states adhering to California's stricter emissions standards.
Critics of state-administrated emissions standards fear that the potential for 50 different requirements will result in a costly quagmire. It will undoubtedly cost automakers more to conform to various and differing requirements, eating up profits (not to mention bailout funds) as well.
Constitutionally, when was a state’s determination of emissions standards not a state’s right?
Of course you know this is impossible. The move basically puts setting fuel economy standards into the hands of the California legislature.
Obama no longer has to push standards through Congress. Just let CA do it. No auto-maker can afford not to be in the world's 8th largest economy or simply cede it to the Japanese and Germans.
The additional angle is this can now be called "states rights" and he will shove it down the GOP's throat. Brilliant move on Obambi's part. Smarter than trying to raise a gasoline tax, less politically complex than a national standard and probably even more brutal.
Somehow I get the impression that the less the GOP is willing to work with 0 the worse it is going to get.
Oh, but I amsure you can count on Arnold to do the right thing /sarc
Exactly.
Depending on how CA would write those guidelines, it could be that canufacturers dump their fuel-efficient models there and the rest of the country could get a windfall of cheaper SUVs! ;-)
And on that note...
Report: 98 Percent Of U.S. Commuters Favor Public Transportation For Others
Never - but what it IS going to launch is impossible-to-meet standards from CA, and other states may discard emissions standards entirely - which will cause problems for those states downwind...
Bingo. Many of his moves are set up this way.
He's talking more like a conservative than many RUNOs, but the details reveal that he's just being very crafty. And many don't seem to be catching on. :-(
Somehow I get the impression that the less the GOP is willing to work with 0 the worse it is going to get.
Yes. Knee-jerk reactions will just get conservatism cut off at the knees. Underestimating him as "stupid" is a recipe for disaster. He has to be hoist by his own petards.
“Oh, but I amsure you can count on Arnold to do the right thing /sarc”
Yep.
We’re screwed.
I can only imagine the dumbed down POS cars that Kalifornians will be “allowed” to buy for the greater “good”.
50 state emissions compliant will be a thing of the past.
I could see some vehicles utterly banned in some states.
This SUCKS!!!!
I spent 20 years living in PA.
Great we in the growing GOP part of the country will have aven a greater advantage in the market place.
Great we in the growing GOP part of the country will have aven a greater advantage in the market place.
This time, I think it is going to be quite possible for the auto companies to ignore California.
They chose to step-n-fetch for California’s moonbattery for all these years because Californians bought lots of cars, as you indicate.
Well, those days are over. Californians (and California) are broke. The state is handing people IOU’s for their tax refunds, state workers are being furloughed, there are going to be pretty grim spending cuts, probable tax increases, you name it.
At the mid-way point of 2008, US auto sales were down 10%, while CA auto sales were down 18%. Haven’t yet seen the year-end 2008 auto sales for California specifically, but I have seen the dealership closing stats, and dealerships that close aren’t the ones selling cars. Inland California dealers are closing by the dozens. Coastal CA is doing a bit better, but they’re not doing well by any means.
I don’t doubt that California is going to try to dictate to the manufactures what they’re going to do, but the auto industry can call California’s bluff this time.
I agree with you on this. 0bama is hoping California will enact higher standards forcing the auto companies to follow along because they don’t want to cede that market to the foreign automakers. Sadly I think it might work.
I've spent 20 years dying in PA.
(Bomb Liechtenstein!)
I had a good friend from Liechtenstein...what do you have against Liechtenstein?
Horse Hockey. While some states will make regional compacts with bordering states there is a potential of five or more separate standards that auto makers will have to contend with. The only way this isn't complex is if states with more stringent emmissions standards decide to not ban cars/trucks with higher emmissions (and lower MPG) but simply have an emmissions tax. The standard can be changed but more importantly the tax charge could increase at the state legislature's leisure. This IS a gasoline tax - just under a different and more nefarious name.
As to this being some brilliant move - quite to the contrary. Obama can try to cow Pubbies with some BS about state's rights ("I thought that's what you guys liked?") but all the Pubbies have to bite back with is a litany of past and soon-to-be passed federal bills that the Dems have/will favor. Yes media will suppress the counter thrust but it makes it a good soundbite for tv and radio ads come 2010 and 2012.
But the real danger for Obama and the Dems is that this creates a strong issue to use for local to state-wide Pubbie pols - a jump start to ground-up party building. This is the only way that we will cleanse many of the RINOs is by taking back states town by town, county by county, state legislature by state legislature.
BTW — the GOP can (and should) go after the DNC on “states’ rights.”
Starting with an ad campaign to remind voters who was behind the first “states’ rights” campaign in the US: The Democrats.
And what two issues were behind the Democrats’ arguments for “states’ rights” - slavery and the states defining their own laws for marriage.
Well, those blew up - first, the Dredd Scott decision blew up in the Democrats’ faces.
Then the Democrats old out the Mormons on the marriage issue, and for PR effect, Buchanan The Poof sent troops west to Utah Territory.... where they were met by rather well armed Mormons.
If The One wants to play that game, I say the GOP should simply run an ad campaign and remind people who was the first party to bring up states’ rights, when and just how that turned out. I think The One would drop the states’ rights issue like a steaming turd.
Not sure why you think automakers would just comply with standards on a state-by-state basis. How do you conted they do that? Mass production requires standardization.
They would comply with the highest standard and just sell the cars anywhere. That is the most logical solution for a manager.
If the effect was to make certain vehicles impossible to sell in certain states, then they would only be available in those states where they could be sold and your emissions tax might be what happened as they crossed borders. But the largest car markets are in states that are likely to pass tougher standards and the automakers are just going to have to adapt. The move is a smart one.
I have a rant about Liechtenstein that I don’t have time to type. In short, it is a dictatorship. Their banking laws mean that rich Germans hide their money there are cause my taxes to go up. Thus they are a bunch of criminals. Moreover, it would only take 2 bombs and that would be easy.
One solution for California vehicle owners:
a.) Register and insure your vehicle in Nevada, preferably in the name of your Uncle Fred (if you don’t have an Uncle Fred, find one).
b.) Get Uncle Fred to execute a sworn statement that since he can’t drive his vehicle (bad eyes, etc.), he is giving you permission to drive the vehicle indefinitely (and since Uncle Fred doesn’t live in California, he’s not required to register or insure it there).
c.) Carry said sworn statement with your registration for the inevitable CHiP checkpoint or local police once-over.
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