HARRISBURG – The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, along with 13 other states, is pursuing legal action to force the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to act on California’s waiver request for better regulating greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles, Gov. Edward G. Rendell announced Thursday.
California filed its suit earlier Thursday.
The EPA’s inaction, said Rendell, is stalling Pennsylvania’s efforts to reduce these climate-changing pollutants, which will protect the environment and the public’s health.
“The fundamental ability for the commonwealth and other states to go above and beyond the EPA’s regulations should be encouraged, not delayed, by the federal government,” said Rendell. “Waiting nearly two years for this waiver is too long. I am calling on the EPA to fulfill its obligations and promptly grant California’s waiver request to allow it to implement its greenhouse gas regulations for automobiles.”
Joining Pennsylvania today are Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Maryland, Maine, Oregon, Rhode Island, New Mexico, Washington, Illinois, Vermont and Arizona. These states have filed requests with the court to allow them to intervene in California’s lawsuit as plaintiffs.
On Dec. 21, 2005, California requested a waiver from EPA to implement its greenhouse gas regulation. Now, almost two years later, EPA has yet to act on the request. Pennsylvania and other states cannot enforce these regulations under the Clean Air Act until the EPA grants a waiver to California’s greenhouse gas regulation.
California, arguing that the EPA has “unlawfully withheld and unreasonably delayed” action on its waiver request, filed two legal actions seeking to order the federal agency to act on the waiver petition by Dec. 31. One lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, and the second was filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Pennsylvania has adopted the stricter California emission rules, but will not realize GHG reductions from the rules unless the Golden State is permitted to enforce that portion of its clean vehicle program. Brand-new cars and light trucks starting with model year 2008 sold, titled and registered in Pennsylvania must be certified by the California Air Resources Board.
This certification requirement is not affected by EPA’s waiver decision or the litigation announced today, because EPA already has approved California’s smog-related standards.
The federal Clean Air Act gives California the unique authority to set its own more stringent air pollutant regulations for cars and allows other states like Pennsylvania to adopt those regulations rather than the federal government’s. However, the federal act requires that EPA provide California with a waiver before these state regulations can be enforced by other states.
California adopted its greenhouse gas regulations on Aug. 4, 2005, requiring reductions in fleet-average, greenhouse-gas emissions for most new passenger motor vehicles sold in California, beginning with the 2009 model year.
Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Kathleen A. McGinty testified before the EPA in May in support of the waiver to California. During her remarks, the secretary noted that California has met all the legal obligations prescribed by the Clean Air Act; therefore the EPA is obligated to grant the waiver.
“The country needs California’s leadership right now – EPA should not and cannot stand in its way,” said McGinty. “With about 25 percent of greenhouse gases in Pennsylvania attributed to transportation, we are urging the EPA to grant California its waiver as soon as possible so that automakers can get on with the job, as they always have, of providing the technology to make our transportation system as clean as possible.”
The Bush administration has resisted regulatory approaches to controlling greenhouse gases. In April, the U.S. Supreme court made a landmark ruling against the administration, deciding that EPA has the authority under the Clean Air Act to regulate greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, as air pollutants. This decision paved the way for states to adopt regulations controlling greenhouse gas pollutants from automobiles sold in there.
Since the Golden State adopted its greenhouse gas regulations for cars, 14 states have either adopted, or are in the process of adopting, California’s regulation, including: Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.
