The
Arizona PIRG Education Fund today commended the National Research
Council (NRC), an arm of the National Academy of Sciences, for
resisting pressure from special interests to erode the ability of
Arizona and other states to protect their citizens from air pollution
and global warming. In a report released today, the NRC affirmed the
vital role that states play in reducing pollution from cars, diesel
trucks, and other moving sources.
The
auto industry had strongly urged the NRC to recommend that Congress
change the Clean Air Act to create additional red tape for states that
want to adopt more protective emission standards.
“The
states are leading the charge in reducing air pollution and global
warming,” said Diane E. Brown, Executive Director of the Arizona PIRG
Education Fund. “The last thing we need is for the federal government
to create more red tape for states that are tackling air pollution and
global warming problems.”
Instead,
the NRC concluded that the states’ efforts have improved air quality.
The NRC did not recommend any legislative or regulatory changes in the
current process by which states adopt emission standards—changes that
would further restrict the states’ rights to protect citizens’ health.
The
Governor Napolitano’s Climate Change Advisory Group is considering
adopting emission standards that are more protective than the federal
standards for cars and light trucks.
States
have long been at the forefront of policies to reduce air pollution and
global warming. Under the Clean Air Act, California—which suffers from
the worst air pollution in the nation—has unique authority to adopt
emissions standards for mobile sources that are more protective than
federal standards. Other states with poor air quality can then adopt
California’s more stringent standards.
In
the report, the NRC states, “California has used its authority as
Congress envisioned: to implement more aggressive measures than the
rest of the country and to serve as a laboratory for technological
innovation.” The NRC calls California’s more protective emission
standards “a proving ground for new emissions-control technologies that
benefit California and the rest of the nation.”
Overall,
15 states and the District of Columbia—which with California account
for more than half of the U.S. population—have adopted one or more of
California’s emissions standards for cars and light trucks, diesel
trucks, or other mobile sources. In 2005 alone, Connecticut, Maine,
Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and
Washington adopted California’s rules to limit global warming pollution
from passenger vehicles.
The
NRC report stems from an amendment that U.S. Senator Kit Bond of
Missouri inserted into the fiscal year 2003 omnibus appropriations
bill, directing the NRC to study state practices in setting emission
standards for cars, trucks, and other mobile sources of air pollution.
Later in 2003, Senator Bond sponsored the first weakening of states’
authority under the Clean Air Act in the law’s 35-year history; the law
now precludes every state but California from adopting more protective
standards for the engines used in lawnmowers and garden equipment.
The
report recommends that EPA expedite the process for reviewing
California’s standards. The panel also considered ways to modify the
process by which other states adopt California’s standards but did not
agree on a specific recommendation.
Nationwide,
159 million people live in counties that violate the national health
standard for ozone “smog” pollution and 95 million people live in
counties that violate the health standard for fine particle “soot”
pollution. Cars, trucks, and other mobile sources are the largest
source of smog pollution and major contributors to soot pollution.
These pollutants cut short the lives of tens of thousands of Americans
each year and contribute to serious respiratory and cardiovascular
problems, including asthma attacks, lung cancer, and heart disease. In
addition, mobile sources release one-third of the nation’s emissions of
carbon dioxide, the leading global warming pollutant.
