California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger urged on Thursday the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reconsider its denial of the state's emissions waiver request.
In a letter to EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson, the governor expressed his disappointment in Johnson's recent decision to block state's right to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles. Thirteen other governors also signed the letter.
"Your decision to deny California its waiver ignores federal law and the reality of climate change. It also ignores the clear intent of Congress in the Clean Air Act to enable California to adopt regulations to control emissions from new motor vehicles that are at least as stringent as those of the federal government, and to allow other states to follow," said the letter.
The letter pointed to the fact that the authority of states to address greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles has been clearly and unequivocally supported by recent judicial decisions.
In April, for example, the United States Supreme Court ruled ina historic opinion that greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles are pollutants to be regulated under the Clean Air Act.
"We find your reasons for denying California's request for a waiver of federal preemption unsound," the letter said.
"The U.S. EPA acted inappropriately in basing its waiver decision on a comparison of California's emissions standards to possible co-benefits of the recently enacted federal Energy Bill, especially with no support for that comparison," said the letter.
Johnson denied the waiver request last month, saying such a waiver would lead to a confusing patchwork of state rules.
"You denounced a confusing patchwork of state rules in your denial statement. There is no patchwork. Rather, there continues to be the two-car system that Congress intended -- California cars and federal cars. Currently there is only one greenhouse gas emissions standard -- a California standard," said the letter.
"The federal government, with this unprecedented action, is ignoring the rights of states, as well as the will of more than 100 million people across the United States. We stand by our commitment to bring cleaner cars to our states," the letter affirmed.
The California law calls for a 30-percent cut in tailpipe and their vehicle emissions by 2016 and is a key piece of the state's aggressive efforts to reduce global warming.
Under the U.S. Clean Air Act, California is entitled to impose stricter air pollution standards than the federal government as long as it first obtains a waiver. In the last three decades, more than 40 such waivers have been issued.
By implementing these standards, California would be eliminating greenhouse gases equivalent to taking 6.5 million cars off the road by the year 2020. If all the other states with similar plans follow through, that figure would grow to nearly 22 million vehicles and would cut gasoline consumption by an estimated 11 billion gallons a year.
Source:Xinhua
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