But States Need Green Light from EPA,
EPA Hearing Tomorrow
Attorney General Patrick Lynch Will Join Environmental Advocates and
Urge Swift Action on Global Warming and State Waiver Requests
Click here for the report.
Providence, RI—The Clean Cars Program already in place in Rhode
Island and 11 other states would reduce global warming emissions by 392 million
metric tons by 2020 – a reduction level equivalent to taking 74 million of
today’s cars off the road for an entire year, according to a new report
released today by the Environment Rhode Island Research & Policy Center.
Put another way, by 2020 the annual pollution reductions
created by the Clean Cars Program in 12 states would be greater than the total
current global warming emissions of entire countries such as Ireland, Israel
and Sweden.
The new report comes as the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) prepares to hold a public hearing to decide whether to give states
the green light to reduce global warming pollution from cars and SUVs. Tomorrow’s
public hearing in the Washington DC Metro Area will be attended by Rhode Island
Attorney General Patrick Lynch and Environment Rhode Island staff.
“If you genuinely want to address an issue as critical and
as real as global warming, you don’t organize a tea party at the 11th
hour to discuss it. You set meaningful limits on the pollutants that are
scientifically proven to be causing climate change or you allow the states to
do the job,” Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch said, referring to President
Bush’s May 14, 2007, executive order asking for public input in the aftermath
of the recent Supreme Court decision rebuking his administration’s inactivity
on global warming. “EPA’s decision to grant or deny California’s
waiver request is critical to Rhode
Island’s interests and our ability to minimize the
impacts associated with climate change.”
Tomorrow the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works
Committee (EPW) will also hold a hearing on the Clean Cars Program. A member of
the U.S. Senate EPW Committee, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse has called publicly on
EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson to issue a decision on the California
waiver request so that Rhode Island
can begin implementing its clean cars program as soon as possible. “Under
the Bush administration, the EPA has been dragging its heels for over 16
months, effectively preventing Rhode
Island and eleven other states from significantly
reducing their global warming emissions and allowing millions of Americans to
breathe cleaner air,” Sen. Whitehouse said. “The EPA has been given a
clear mandate by the Supreme Court to regulate carbon dioxide emissions and now
the Agency must act on it.”
“While the Bush administration has spun its wheels and done
nothing about global warming, Rhode Island and other states are acting to put
real solutions to work, said Matt Auten, Advocate for the Environment Rhode
Island Research & Policy Center. “The Clean Cars Program will cut global
warming from cars and SUV’s while saving Rhode
Island consumers money at the pump, but first we need
a green light from EPA. It would be a travesty for the environment and
consumers in Rhode Island
if the Bush Administration blocks our state’s Clean Cars Program,” Auten
continued.
Environment Rhode Island’s new report entitled “The Clean Cars Program: How States Are
Driving Cuts in Global Warming Pollution” analyzes government data and
non-profit studies to estimate the reduction in global warming emissions,
reduction in oil consumption, and consumer savings that would result from the
global warming emission standards for cars and SUVs that have been adopted by
12 states. The report also looks at the benefits from the additional six states
that are considering the policy. Key findings on the report include:
•
The 12-state standards will cut global warming emissions
from cars, light trucks, and SUVs by 392 million metric tons by 2020, the
equivalent to taking 74 million of today’s cars off the road for an entire
year.
•
The annual savings projected for 2020 are greater
than the annual global warming emissions from countries like Ireland, Sweden,
Austria
and 170 other countries today.
•
The 12-state standards could reduce gasoline
consumption by as much as 8.3 billion gallons per year in 2020—as much as is
consumed by all the vehicles in Florida
in a year—and enable consumers to save up to $25.8 billion annually at the pump
in 2020.
•
If the six additional states that are
considering the policy adopt the standards, the total global warming emission
reductions would grow to 536 million metric tons by 2020, the equivalent to
taking 101 million of today’s cars off the road for an entire year.
In late 2004 California
adopted first-of-their-kind standards requiring cars and light-duty trucks to
limit emissions that contribute to global warming. Since then, 11 other states—Rhode
Island, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey,
New York, Oregon,
Pennsylvania, Vermont,
and Washington—have
adopted the Clean Cars Program.
The U.S. EPA has been sitting for 18 months on California’s request for a waiver under the Clean Air
Act, in effect blocking implementation of the emission standards in California, Rhode
Island and other states.
EPA is holding two public hearings on the waiver request –
one tomorrow in the Washington DC metro area
and the second next week in Sacramento.
EPA scheduled the hearings and opened a public comment period on the issue
after the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling in April that rebuked the EPA for
not regulating carbon dioxide and other global warming pollutants from cars. Rhode Island was a party to that lawsuit and is also
facing federal litigation in U.S.
District Courts-along with California and Vermont- from auto
manufacturers and dealers over adopting the Clean Cars Program.
Earlier this year, the United Nations’ Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concluded that global
warming will lead to more beach erosion, droughts, floods, heat waves,
water stress, forest fires, and coastal flooding in the U.S., but that “many
impacts can be avoided, reduced, or delayed” by reining in global warming
emissions.
Tomorrow’s public hearing starts at 9 am at the EPA Potomac Yard Conference
Center, 2777 Crystal Drive, Room S-1204 in Arlington, Virginia. Advocates for the states, including Attorney
General Lynch, will hold a press conference at 12 noon tomorrow at the Hyatt Regency
Crystal City
(next to the EPA building) at 2799
Jefferson Davis Highway, Arlington
VA in the Prince William
Room
The Senate Environment & Public Works hearing will be
held tomorrow in the Dirksen
Senate Office
Building in Room 406 at
2:30 p.m.
