What's New List Serve Post Display

Please consider the following Air Resources Board press release
offering the recent letter from Mary Nichols regarding the Clean
Cars regulation.  You can also review the release here:
http://www.arb.ca.gov/newsrel/nr052908b.htm .
Thank You
Dimitri Stanich
ARB/PIO 

Release 08-51
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 29, 2008
	  	  	
Stanley Young
(916) 956-9409
www.arb.ca.gov


ARB chairman addresses concerns raised by California
congressional republicans regarding California Clean Cars Law


SACRAMENTO: Mary Nichols, Chairman of the California Air
Resources Board, sent the following letter in response to a May
23 letter by thirteen Republican members of the California
Congressional delegation to Governor Schwarzenegger. In that
letter, the representatives called for a "federal process"
namely, the federal fuel economy provisions in the Energy Bill
to replace California's Clean Cars Law (also known as the Pavley
regulations developed under AB 1493).

Chairman Nichols' letter outlines the fundamental difference
between federal fuel economy standards and the California Clean
Cars Law. "The Clean Cars law is not a fuel economy law; it is
an achievable vehicle performance standard regulating greenhouse
gases to address climate change. Reducing greenhouse gas
emissions is not a simple function of fuel economy, but is
instead the result of a comprehensive approach that includes
vehicle energy efficiency, the type of fuel used, emissions of
hydrocarbons and nitrous oxides from fuel combustion, and potent
refrigerant leaks from vehicular air conditioning systems.
Moreover, the Supreme Court, two federal courts, and EISA's
Section 3 and legislative history clearly demonstrate that fuel
economy and greenhouse gas regulation from vehicles derive from
different legislative authority, use different regulatory tools,
and address different public purposes."

The full letter follows:


May 29, 2008


Dear Representatives,

Governor Schwarzenegger forwarded to me your letter of May 23
regarding California's Clean Cars law. I appreciate your support
for our shared principles of reducing pollution, including
greenhouse gas emissions, from motor vehicles.

With the California Clean Cars law, greenhouse gas emissions
from light-duty cars and trucks will be reduced by 30% by 2016,
with additional stringency when the second phase is adopted for
the period 2016-2020. California and the 13 other states that
have adopted the standard will create the only greenhouse gas
standard for vehicles in the country, a uniform standard
covering about half of the U.S. auto market. When the federal
government responds to the United States Supreme Court order to
address greenhouse gases from cars, there will be at most two
such emissions standards in the country, as has been the case
through four decades of successful Clean Air Act
implementation.

Recognizing the emission reductions targeted by the California
Clean Cars law prompts me to correct a misunderstanding in your
letter. The Clean Cars law is not a fuel economy law; it is an
achievable vehicle performance standard regulating greenhouse
gases to address climate change. Reducing greenhouse gas
emissions is not a simple function of fuel economy, but is
instead the result of a comprehensive approach that includes
vehicle energy efficiency, the type of fuel used, emissions of
hydrocarbons and nitrous oxides from fuel combustion, and potent
refrigerant leaks from vehicular air conditioning systems.
Moreover, the Supreme Court, two federal courts, and EISA's
Section 3 and legislative history clearly demonstrate that fuel
economy and greenhouse gas regulation from vehicles derive from
different legislative authority, use different regulatory tools,
and address different public purposes. An illustrative example of
this difference is the fact that the Clean Cars program will
offer greater greenhouse gas reductions than would be achieved
by relying on fuel economy regulation alone. Our estimates show
that Clean Cars will reduce GHGs in the 14 adopting states by
40% more than the federal fuel economy rule. In California the
benefits are even greater - 50% more GHG reduction using a
comprehensive GHG program than under a fuel economy regulation.

I agree that climate change requires a national solution, and I
look forward to working with you to pass strong federal
legislation to aggressively reduce our Nation's greenhouse gas
emissions. I believe that a successful national program must
build on the foundation of successful state programs such as
California's Clean Cars law that will continue to deliver
cost-effective GHG reductions, drive the market for new clean
technology, and save consumers money.

Please don't hesitate to contact me or my staff if we can be of
assistance to you in discussing the critical role of reducing
greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles in order to achieve our
shared environmental goals.

Sincerely,

Mary Nichols

Chairman, California Air Resources Board



The Air Resources Board is a department of the California
Environmental Protection Agency. ARB's mission is to promote and
protect public health, welfare, and ecological resources through
effective reduction of air pollutants while recognizing and
considering effects on the economy. The ARB oversees all air
pollution control efforts in California to attain and maintain
health based air quality standards.

#####