Environment America is the new home of U.S. PIRG’s environmental work.
Washington, DC—Tailpipe standards already in
place in 12 states would reduce global warming emissions by nearly 400 million
metric tons by 2020 – a reduction equivalent to taking 74 million of today’s
cars off the road for an entire year, according to a new report released today
by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG). The report comes as the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) prepares to hold a public hearing tomorrow in Arlington, Virginia
on whether to give states the green light to reduce global warming pollution
from cars and SUVs.
“Cars and
SUVs are a massive source of global warming pollution,” said Emily Figdor, U.S.
PIRG’s Federal Global Warming Program Director.
“As the Bush administration spins its wheels and delays action on global
warming, the states are putting real solutions to work. States must be allowed to fight global
warming,” she continued.
U.S.
PIRG’s new report analyzes government data and non-profit studies to estimate
the reduction in global warming emissions, reduction in oil consumption, and
consumer savings that would result from the global warming emission standards
for cars and SUVs that have been adopted by 12 states. The report also looks at the benefits from
the additional six states that are considering the policy. Key findings include:
•
The
12-state standards will cut global warming emissions from cars, light trucks,
and SUVs by 392 million metric tons by 2020, the equivalent to taking 74
million of today’s cars off the road for an entire year.
•
The
12-state standards could reduce gasoline consumption by as much as 8.3 billion
gallons per year in 2020 – as much as is consumed by all the vehicles in Florida in a year – and enable
consumers to save up to $25.8 billion annually at the pump in 2020.
•
If
the six additional states that are considering the policy adopt the standards, the
total global warming emission reductions would grow to 536 million metric tons
by 2020, the equivalent to taking 101 million of today’s cars off the road for
an entire year.
“It’s a
win-win situation. Reducing global
warming pollution from cars and SUVs will also start to reduce our dependence
on oil and save consumers money at the gas pump,” said Figdor.
In late
2004, California
adopted first-of-their-kind standards requiring cars and light-duty
trucks to
limit emissions that contribute to global warming. Since then, 11
other states—including Connecticut,
Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon,
Pennsylvania,
Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington—have adopted the tailpipe
standards. EPA has been sitting for 18 months on California’s request
for a waiver under the Clean Air
Act, which EPA has routinely issued more than 50 times in the last four
decades, in effect blocking implementation of the emission standards in
California and other
states. Passenger vehicles are the
second largest source of global warming emissions nationwide.
In response to the U.S. PIRG report, California
Secretary for Environmental Protection Linda Adams underscored the importance
of California’s decades of leadership in developing tougher emissions standards
for cars and SUVs, saying, “California has a long history of environmental
leadership, setting aggressive goals to clean our air with well-crafted
regulations that have inspired the development of new clean technologies to
reduce vehicle emissions. These standards will provide a tremendous
reduction in California’s
greenhouses gases and are an essential part of the state’s efforts to reduce
emissions that contribute to global warming.”
EPA is
holding two public hearings on the waiver request – one tomorrow in the DC
metro area and the second next week in Sacramento. EPA scheduled the hearings and opened a public
comment period on the issue after the Supreme Court ruled in April that the
Clean Air Act gives EPA the authority to regulate carbon dioxide and other
global warming pollutants from cars.
“The Bush
EPA’s failure to give the states the stamp of approval to put cleaner cars on
the road is more than just bureaucratic delay.
It marks a clear decision to cater to powerful corporate interests instead
of protecting the public from very real risks,” said Figdor.
Earlier
this year, the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
concluded that global warming will lead to more droughts,
floods, heat waves, water stress, forest fires, and coastal flooding in the
U.S., but that “many impacts can be avoided, reduced, or delayed” by reining in
global warming emissions.
Tomorrow’s
public hearing starts at 9 am at the EPA
Potomac Yard
Conference Center,
2777 Crystal Drive,
Room S-1204 in Arlington, Virginia.
The public officials expected to testify at the hearing include Ms.
Adams; California Attorney General and former Governor Jerry Brown; Fran
Pavley, former California Assembly member and author of the clean cars legislation;
Pennsylvania DEP Secretary and former chair of the White House Council on
Environmental Quality Kathleen McGinty, New York Environment Commissioner
Alexander B. “Pete” Grannis, Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal,
and Rhode Island Attorney General Patrick Lynch, among many others.
“The Bush
EPA should immediately give the states the green light to put clean cars on the
road,” Figdor concluded.
###
U.S. PIRG is the federation of state
Public Interest Research Groups. State PIRGs are non-profit, non-partisan
public interest advocacy organizations.
