Cross-posted at DailyKos and MyLeftWing.
Recently, Gov. Christine Gregoire, Washington State, signed a bill into law that brings California standards to the state. The new standards for car emissions will start to take effect in 2009. By 2016, all new cars, SUVs and light trucks sold in the state will have to be compliant.
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“The technology is there, and if it’s not there we just need to give it a little nudge,” Gregoire said. “This is one of the single most important pieces of environmental legislation we’ve had in a long time. … It’s going to have direct benefits to the health of our children and our elderly.”
The combined states that have already adopted the California standards (New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont and Rhode Island), represent one third of the North American market.
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But the industry sees things differently.
“It’s all pocketbook pain and no environmental gain,” said Eron Shosteck, a spokesman for the Washington, D.C.-based Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers.
He said experience in other states has shown that consumers will end up paying thousands of dollars more for cars, without any apparent benefits.
Currently, there is pending in California, a lawsuit addressing law AB 1493, the Pavley bill. Named after sponsor Fran Pavely, it is the first law in the nation to address greehouse gas emissions.
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CARB (California Air Resources Board) states that increased costs will find an offset:
CARB estimated that the initial phase of the regulations will increase the average price of new vehicles by as much as $367. When fully implemented in 2016, new vehicles will cost, on average, $1,064 more, the agency said. The price increases, however, will be offset somewhat by the lower operating costs, CARB said.
In December of 2004, a federal lawsuit was filed alleging that federal law was preempted by AB 1493.
On December 7, 2004 the Pavley law was challenged in a federal lawsuit filed by the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, Association of International Automobile Manufacturers and California auto dealers. …The plaintiffs argues that as greenhouse gas emissions from cars are largely a byproduct of their fuel economy, regulating emissions like carbon dioxide would indirectly require automakers to improve fuel efficiency significantly. And, since the federal government has sole authority to regulate fuel economy, Toyota, G.M. and several other automakers contend in their lawsuit that California is encroaching on Washington’s jurisdiction.
“It’s pre-empted by federal law,” said Eron Shosteck, a spokesman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, a lobbying group which filed the suit. “It’s something that needs to be done at the national or international level.” California lawmakers say the regulation is focused on harmful tailpipe emissions and is well within the state’s authority. Automakers say they will have to stop selling some of their largest sport utility vehicles in the state. Domestic automakers rely on big truck sales and could be particularly vulnerable. Industry experts say the regulation will add about $3,000 to the up front cost of the average car or truck. State regulators say it will cost far less, about $1,000, and be more than made up for over time by spending less at gas stations.
Hmm, less SUV behemoths on the road, no bad thing. Given that these are amongst the most profitable of vehicles, it’s bound to get ugly.
Now here is the really interesting part. In April of this year, an alliance of car manufacturers including General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. signed a landmark agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Canada.
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In keeping with the Kyoto protocol on climate change, the pact signed Tuesday could reduce annual gas emissions for Canadian vehicles by 5.3 million tons by 2010, if the voluntary program is carried out properly after it goes into effect in 2007.
Tuesday’s move came four months after the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, a U.S. group representing some of the same carmakers that signed the Canadian pact, filed a federal lawsuit claiming the vehicle-emissions standards in California are too rigid. California’s regulations, the toughest in the United States, were designed to cut exhaust emissions in cars and light trucks by 25 percent by 2016.
Among those signing the pact were the Canadian units of 19 automakers, including Ford, GM, DaimlerChrysler AG, Honda Motor Co., Toyota Motor Corp. and Nissan Motor Co.
So, cleaner air, good for Canadians, bad for Americans. Got that, eh?