Governor
Carcieri has announced the adoption of a tough new vehicle emissions
standard for new cars sold statewide, with the goal of greatly reducing
air pollution.
Adoption
of the new standard -- called the California Low Emission or Clean Cars
standard -- is expected to spur sales of hybrid vehicles as well as
those designed to run on hydrogen fuel cells, electricity or super low
emission gasoline.
Auto
emissions are considered a major pollutant in the Northeast. More than
30 percent of the total greenhouse-gas emissions in the region come
from autos, according to Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use
Management, an interstate association of air-quality control divisions.
The national average is 22 percent.
Carcieri's
announcement was enthusiastically received by environmentalists who had
repeatedly accused him of foot-dragging in adopting the new standard.
Prior to the announcement, Carcieri was the only governor in New
England who had not publicly adopted or supported the Clean Cars
standard.
"The
adoption of this standard is a huge victory for public health," said
Matt Auten, clean air advocate at the nonprofit Rhode Island Public
Interest Research Group.
States
are required under the Clean Air Act to adopt either a federal
standard, which Rhode Island followed until yesterday, or the tougher
California standard. California is the only state with the authority to
set its own vehicle-emissions standard.
Auten said speedy action in adopting the Clean Cars standard is crucial to protecting public health.
"We want to see this implemented by the end of the year," he said.
Implementation of the standard depends on the formulation of regulations by the Department of Environmental Management.
The
new standard requires that 10 percent of all new autos and trucks be
zero-emission vehicles, but it does not specify a target date.
The
standard was first adopted in California with the mandate that 10
percent of its cars be zero-emission vehicles before 2012. However,
auto-dealer associations staunchly opposed the timeline and the new
standard was amended without a target date. Sales of hybrid and other
technologies that pollute less were included as part of the standard.
The Clean Cars standard was also opposed by the state auto-dealers
association.
"In
the beginning, people will notice more hybrid cars available," said
Auten. He said hybrid cars and those that use low emission technologies
reduce auto pollution by as much as 90 percent.
The
standard requires that Rhode Island automakers sell approximately
14,400 hybrid vehicles and more than 78,000 clean conventional cars
before 2011, Auten said. Those amounts are adjusted to mimic the ratios
of clean cars sold in California. Sales of hybrid and other
low-polluting vehicles can be used as credits by auto dealers to meet
the 10-percent zero-emissions standard once a target date is
implemented, Auten said.
Sellers of hybrid vehicles welcomed the adoption of the new standard.
"I
think this is a great move," said Paul Mika, president of Toyota of
Newport. Mika's dealership sells the popular hybrid car Toyota Prius.
Although
the new standard is intended to spur the sale of such cars, there may
be little effect in the short term, because Toyota and other hybrid-car
makers, such as Honda, greatly underestimated the demand for late-model
hybrids, based on slow sales of introductory models, Mika said.
Currently, there is a six-month waiting list for the Prius, and only four are shipped to the state monthly, he said.
Carcieri
has instructed the Department of Environmental Management to draw up
ways to implement the standard, said Jeff Neal, Carcieri's spokesman.
Neal
said Carcieri will also invite auto dealers, environmentalists and
other stakeholders to join a panel to develop a framework to give
manufacturers enough flexibility to meet goals set forth in the new
standard.
Neal said no date has been set for convening that panel.
Edward
Ortiz has a fellowship with the Metcalf Institute for Marine and
Environmental Reporting. He can be reached at eortiz [at] projo.com.
