Organic Picks Blog » A huge win for improving vehicle fuel efficiency

A huge win for improving vehicle fuel efficiency
December 13, 2007

Posted by CindyW in : Opinions & Thoughts , trackback

As I am getting ready to jump off my vehicle fuel efficiency soapbox, a new federal court decision is keeping me up here for one more day. Yesterday, U.S. District Court Judge Anthony W. Ishii ruled against Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers(1) and a group of auto dealers: “Both EPA and California . . . are equally empowered through the Clean Air Act to promulgate regulations that limit the emissions of greenhouse gases, principally carbon dioxide, from motor vehicles.”

According to the Los Angeles Times, this decision came on the heels of three other recent cases:

April, 2007 – “the Supreme Court ruled that the EPA has the right to regulate greenhouse gases as air pollutants and that the agency could grant states permission to implement their own standards.”
September, 2007 – a federal court in Vermont ruled that the state could control greenhouse emissions from cars.
November, 2007 – the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against a loophole allowing lower emission standards for light trucks – under the now defunct rule, the average fuel efficiency was to rise from today’s 22.5 miles to 23.5 miles per gallon in 2010 (a whole 1 mpg improvement) while the current passenger cars standard was already 27.5 mpg.

California has plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30% between 2009 and 2016 and 40% of the state’s greenhouse gas emission comes from motor vehicles.

I am tremendously encouraged that we are finally heading the right direction. However before we celebrate for victory, one more hurdle needs to be cleared – currently a waiver from the EPA is required for states that wish to implement local higher fuel efficiency standards. What?! Yes, you read it right. The U.S. EPA, which stands for Environmental Protection Agency, is actually putting up obstacles for states that wish to curtail their own green house emission. There is so much irony in this that I don’t even want to get started. In fact last month, California sued the federal government, demanding a ruling on the waiver request, which has been pending for nearly two years.

Meanwhile, I will continue to support the environmental groups that have been diligently working on the latest case: Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council, Blue Water Network, Environmental Defense, Global Exchange, and Rainforest Action Network.

I must put in another note – Instead of spending millions and millions of dollars in court cases and lobbying efforts, the big auto manufacturers can put the money into innovation. Ford, GM and Chrysler have had pathetic market performance going with status quo. Seems to me now is a good time to rethink the innovation roadmap.

CindyW at Organicpicks

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(1) The alliance is a trade association of 10 makers of cars and light trucks: BMW Group, Chrysler, Ford, General Motors, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz USA, Mitsubishi, Porsche, Toyota and Volkswagen.

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