TALLAHASSEE – The
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today approved the Clean Air Act waiver
that 13 states and the District of
Columbia needs to implement its program to reduce global
warming pollution from passenger vehicles.
Originally a key part of Governor
Crist’s Executive Orders on Global Warming in 2007, a Cleaner Cars Program for
Florida
languished in the Senate as the Florida Legislature instead focused on a watered
down renewable electricity standard and increased offshore oil and gas drilling.
The program would reduce Florida’s global warming pollution by 79.5
million metric tons – the equivalent of eliminating the pollution from nearly 15
million cars for a year – and save consumers more than $16 billion at the pump
by 2020, according to an Environment Florida analysis.
“This is great news because it will
help kick our dependence on oil, reduce global warming pollution, and save
consumers money at the pump. Since the Florida Legislature wouldn’t hop in the
driver’s seat, we applaud President Obama and EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson for
taking action while the federal government creates a similar program
nationwide,” said Environment Florida Advocate Adam
Rivera.
The Bush EPA rejected the waiver in
December 2007, effectively blocking the program in states across the country.
As one of his first acts in office, President Obama directed the EPA to
reconsider the decision.
Today’s announcement is a
cornerstone of the agreement, which President Obama announced last month,
between the states, automakers, EPA, and Department of Transportation to
establish uniform federal standards to reduce global warming pollution and
improve the fuel economy of passenger cars, light-duty trucks, and medium-duty
passenger vehicles, covering model years 2012 through 2016 and modeled off of
the state program.
Background:
* Environment Florida worked to adopt the clean cars standards in
Florida since
2007.
* Passenger
vehicles are the second largest source of global warming emissions
nationwide.
* The Clean Air Act allows (1)
California to set auto emission standards that
are stronger than federal standards (no such standards currently exist); and (2)
other states to adopt California’s auto emission standards. To
implement the standards, EPA must issue California a waiver of federal preemption, an
action the agency has taken many times in the last four decades
for innovations like
catalytic converters.
* In 2005, California adopted
first-of-their-kind standards requiring cars and light-duty trucks to limit
emissions that contribute to global warming. The standards would cut global
warming emissions from passenger vehicles by 30 percent by 2016. A total of 13
other states—Arizona, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey,
New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and
Washington—and the District of Columbia have adopted the tailpipe
standards.
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Environment
Florida is a
state-based, citizen-funded environmental organization working for clean air,
clean water, and open space.
