Raleigh, NC—Environment
North Carolina today commended the National Research Council, an arm of the
National Academy of Sciences, for resisting pressure from special interests to
erode the ability of North Carolina and
other states to protect their citizens from air pollution and global
warming. In a report released today, the
NRC affirmed the vital role that states play in reducing pollution from cars,
diesel trucks, and other moving sources.
The auto industry had strongly urged the NRC to
recommend that Congress change the Clean Air Act to create additional red tape
for states that want to adopt more protective emission standards.
“The states are leading the charge in reducing air
pollution and global warming,” said Elizabeth Ouzts, State Director of
Environment North Carolina. “The last
thing we need is for the federal government to create more red tape for states
that are tackling these problems.”
Instead, the NRC concluded that the states’ efforts
have improved air quality. The NRC did
not recommend any legislative or regulatory changes in the current process by
which states adopt emission standards—changes that would further restrict the
states’ rights to protect citizens’ health.
North Carolina
has already adopted emission standards that are more protective than the
federal standards for diesel trucks, and is considering adopting emission
standards that are more protective than the federal standards for cars and
light trucks.
States have long been at the forefront
of policies to reduce air pollution and global warming. Under the Clean Air Act, California—which
suffers from the worst air pollution in the nation—has unique authority to
adopt emissions standards for mobile sources that are more protective than
federal standards. Other states with
poor air quality can then adopt California’s
more stringent standards.
In the report, the NRC states, “California
has used its authority as Congress envisioned: to implement more aggressive
measures than the rest of the country and to serve as a laboratory for
technological innovation.” The NRC calls
California’s
more protective emission standards “a proving ground for new emissions-control
technologies that benefit California
and the rest of the nation.”
Overall, 15 states and the District of
Columbia—which with California account for more than half of the U.S.
population—have adopted one or more of California’s emissions standards for
cars and light trucks, diesel trucks, or other mobile sources. In 2005 alone, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington adopted California’s rules to limit global
warming pollution from passenger vehicles.
The NRC report stems from an amendment
that U.S. Senator Kit Bond of Missouri
inserted into the fiscal year 2003 omnibus appropriations bill, directing the
NRC to study state practices in setting emission standards for cars, trucks,
and other mobile sources of air pollution.
Later in 2003, Senator Bond sponsored the first weakening of states’
authority under the Clean Air Act in the law’s 35-year history; the law now precludes every state but California from adopting more protective
standards for the engines used in lawnmowers and garden equipment.
The report recommends that EPA expedite
the process for reviewing California’s
standards. The panel also considered
ways to modify the process by which other states adopt California’s
standards but did not agree on a specific recommendation.
In 2005, at least 16 states, including North
Carolina, wrote to the NRC to
urge the panel not to make it harder for states to tackle air pollution and
global warming.
