Clean Car Standards

U.S. EPA Approves Clean Car Standards

We Declare Victory!

At the end of June 2009 the US Environmental Protection Agency at long last approved California’s request for a waiver that would allow it to implement tailpipe emissions standards for new cars and light trucks. Under the Clean Air Act California is allowed to adopt more stringent pollution controls than federal regulations and in 2002 the state Assembly adopted the first law in the U.S. that limits global warming pollution from tailpipes.

Over the next 6 years Arizona, Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington one by one followed suit, representing approximately one quarter of the U.S. vehicle fleet. In Oregon, OEC led the citizen-driven effort to adopt the standards with the Clean Cars for Oregon Coalition that was made up of more than 100 businesses and organizations, plus countless Oregonians.

Speed Bumps along the Way

The road to clean car standards was a bumpy one, marked by vigorous opposition from both the auto industry and the Bush Administration and punctuated by lawsuits brought forward by California and car companies alike, and a Congressional hearing into the Bush Administration’s initial denial of California’s request, which it originally submitted at the end of 2005.

In April 2007 the effort took a new turn. The Supreme Court, in the landmark case Massachusetts v. EPA, ruled that greenhouse-house gas emissions qualify as pollutants under the Clean Air Act and that therefore EPA has the authority to regulate those emissions. Since at that time EPA had yet to impose any form of limitations on emissions, vehicle or otherwise, the importance of pursuing state-driven standards became even more important in the fight to slow global warming.

After EPA denied the waiver request, California filed a lawsuit in early January 2008 to reverse the agency’s decision joined by the 13 other “clean car” states, along with several other states who considering adopting the standards as well. Environmental stakeholders intervened in the case, including OEC and other members of the Clean Cars for Oregon Coalition, to secure states’ rights to reduce global warming pollution.

How Clean Car Standards benefit Oregon

By adopting the “clean car standards," the Oregon Environmental Quality Commission has ensured that all new passenger cars and light-duty trucks sold in our state will be cleaner-burning, more climate-friendly and more fuel-efficient, starting with the 2009 model year.

Clean cars protect our health and curb global warming.

Clean car standards reduce dangerous auto emissions that aggravate asthma and contribute to other lung diseases, cancer and heart disease. They will also cut global warming pollution from new cars by an average of 30% by 2016.

Clean cars make our nation more secure.

Oil dependence is a matter of national security that also threatens our economy. With clean car standards we’ll put American car manufacturers to work building a whole new generation of cars that sip, rather than guzzle, oil.

Clean cars save car owners money and increase consumer choice.

Because clean cars use less fuel, they save drivers money at the gas pump. The states that have enacted clean car standards have the same SUVs, light trucks and passenger cars that other states have, only with better pollution control technology.

How OEC promoted the clean car standards

OEC coordinated a coalition effort comprised of more than 100 businesses and organizations, along with countless citizens. Together, the Clean Cars for Oregon coalition ensured adoption of the clean car standards June 2006.

OEC also ensured that two important pieces of legislation were passed by the 2007 Oregon Legislature to implement the clean car standards: 1) funding for our Department of Environmental Quality to implement the standards and 2) a bill ensuring that DMV has the authority to deny registration to new vehicles that do not meet the standards.