By
the end of December, if all goes as planned, Rhode Island will update
its vehicle emission standards for the second time in a year.
Governor
Carcieri announced yesterday that he will work with the state
Department of Environmental Management to adopt the new California
greenhouse gas emission standard.
The reasons for the update, Carcieri said, are twofold.
"Fuel efficiency will save Rhode Islanders money at the pump," he said, and "new standards will help ensure healthy residents."
The
update will keep state emission standards in line with those of
California, the strictest in the country. Eight other states, including
Massachusetts, have also adopted the standards.
"This is a big victory," Matt Auten, an advocate with the Rhode Island Public Interest Research Group, said. "It's a big day."
RIPIRG
is one of more than 30 organizations that have worked with the DEM and
the governor's office on ways to reduce the state's greenhouse
emissions since 2002.
Chris
Wilhite, an advocate with Clean Water Action, agreed. "It's important
that Governor Carcieri has heard this message from a broad coalition
and has stood up for the state and to help stop global warming."
Last
year, Rhode Island updated its regulations for new vehicles to conform
to California's standards. Though the strictest regulations at the
time, they did not regulate greenhouse gases, only smog-forming
compounds, carbon monoxide and toxic pollutants.
According
to Stephen Majkut, chief of air resources at DEM, the new standards
will impose progressively stricter limits on the amount of greenhouse
gases emitted by new cars sold in-state, in addition to the other
pollutants, beginning in 2009.
Greenhouse
gases are chemicals that absorb and trap heat in the earth's
atmosphere, contributing to localized, as well as global, warming. The
new emission standards will work to limit the emission of carbon
dioxide, which accounts for 82 percent of man-made greenhouse gases.
To
do this, the DEM will impose a "fleet-wide" average emission level that
each manufacturer must meet, Majkut said. Some vehicles will be higher
emitting than others, but all new cars sold in-state by a particular
manufacturer will have to average a certain amount of carbon dioxide
per mile driven.
"All
of the control is in the manufacturers' hands," W. Michael Sullivan,
director of the DEM said, as long as emissions quality is improved.
Across
the country, however, auto manufacturers are not pleased with the trend
in emission restrictions. Last year, the Alliance of Automobile
Manufacturers filed a lawsuit against the state of California,
challenging the new standards.
No one at the manufacturer's alliance was available to comment on the lawsuit.
"Our
concerns are the same as manufacturers'," said Jack Perkins at the
Rhode Island Automobile Dealers Association, "If you put a burden on
them that they cannot meet, what do we wind up having in the state to
sell?"
Perkins
said there are two reasons auto manufacturers are opposed to the
greenhouse gas restrictions: "Auto manufacturers believe that these
standards are illegal because it's a way of regulating fuel economy for
vehicles, and only the federal government can do that." The other
problem, he said, is that the technology is not economically feasible.
According to a statement on the manufacturer's alliance Web site, the
cost to bring cars into compliance would average $3,000 per vehicle.
Majkut,
at the DEM, said some cars on the road already incorporate the
technologies that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Turbo-charging
an engine, he said, allows for smaller engines to provide more power;
cylinder deactivation, which ensures only the necessary cylinders are
in use, saves fuel; and multispeed transmission, which shifts gears
gradually in automatic transmission cars, is more efficient than
traditional transmissions.
With
the technology to reach 2009 emission goals, according to Majkut, the
increased cost of new-car purchase to the consumer will be about $17.
To reach the 2016 goal, that cost would increase to about $1,064. But
with gas prices at $3 per gallon, Majkut said, someone who buys a new
car can expect to save $245 per year for a five-year period.
The DEM got its estimates from California where, Majkut said, "they have a good record of predicting the cost of their program."
On
Oct. 20, there will be a final meeting concerning the new regulations.
A public hearing is scheduled Dec. 7 and the adoption of a new rule is
set for Dec. 27.
Brandie
Jefferson has a fellowship with the Metcalf Institute for Marine and
Environmental Reporting. She can be reached at bjeffers@projo.com
