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Monday, Nov 9, 2009
One of the reasons why Californian legislators have felt compelled to push for new regulations is the politically controversial side issue of whether carbon dioxide is really a pollutant at all. Under the Bush administration the Environmental Protection Agency has refused to regulate CO2 as a pollutant covered by the Clean Air Act.
It is true that CO2 occurs naturally, and events such as forest fires cause it to be released into the atmosphere. But most climatologists now believe that as humans rapidly burn fossil fuels for power the excess CO2 released into the atmosphere, along with methane, nitrous oxide and hydrofluorocarbons, is causing the planet to heat up, threatening human and environmental health. And when that happens, CO2 is acting as a pollutant, and thus can be legally classified as such, according to Dan Becker, Washington director of global warming issues for the Sierra Club.
"An air emission that causes or contributes to environmental or health problems is a pollutant," says Becker.
The American Lung Association of California agrees, arguing that global warming is a clear threat to the air quality in California, and therefore public health.
"There will be hotter days, so there will be more emissions from electricity generation, evaporation of fuel and power plant usage," says Bonnie Holmes-Gen, a spokesperson for the American Lung Association of California. "And increased temperatures will facilitate more ozone formation in urban areas that are already experiencing poor air quality."
Becker argues that California law can't be preempted by a federal standard, since there is, as yet, no such rule: "The reality is that this law doesn't regulate fuel economy. It sets a global warming emissions limit for automobiles, and the federal government has no law or rule setting a global warming limit from any product including automobiles. So, it can't be preempted."
Other environmentalists point out that California's existing auto regulations, such as its zero emissions vehicles program, have mandated the introduction of electric and hybrid cars. "It has a side impact on fuel economy. Some of the vehicles use no gasoline. Some use less gasoline, like a hybrid electric. That's not really a problem," says Hwang, from the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Whatever happens with the law, the implications will reach far beyond California's borders. If New York, Massachusetts and five other New England states that have currently adopted or are in the processing of adopting California's existing tailpipe regulations also adopt the state's greenhouse gas emissions rules, then a quarter of the U.S. car market will be affected, says Jason Mark.
To put that in a global perspective, says Mark, if just the emissions generated by U.S. passenger vehicles today were counted as their own country, they'd be the fifth highest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world, spewing more CO2 than all of Germany or India.
