EPA Doesn't Waste Time Revisiting California's Desire for Higher Auto Emissions Standards

by Climate Weekly – Feb. 10, 2009

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will reconsider its decision denying California permission to set standards controlling greenhouse gases from motor vehicles, the agency announced Feb. 6.

In March 2008, former EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson denied California's waiver request, which it filed in December 2005 to get the EPA's permission to control the greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles in its state. Shortly after President Barack Obama took office, he asked the EPA to revisit the agency's denial decision.

"The EPA has now set in motion an impartial review of the California waiver decision," said EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson. The EPA said "significant issues" surround the agency's denial of the waiver because it represented a "substantial departure" from the agency's past decision to grant waivers under the Clean Air Act. "It is imperative that we get this decision right, and base it on the best available science and a thorough understanding of the law," Jackson added.

The EPA will take public comments on the issue of reconsidering the waiver for 60 days following publication in the Federal Register. It also will hold a public hearing in Washington, D.C., next month.