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GOVERNOR SPITZER CRITICAL OF FEDERAL GLOBAL WARMING DECISION

Governor Eliot Spitzer today criticized the US Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) decision to disapprove a waiver for the motor vehicle greenhouse gas standards adopted by California, New York and eleven other states. Two federal courts have upheld those standards, and a waiver from EPA is all that is needed before those standards can be enforced. The standards were set to go into effect with the automobile manufacturers' 2009 model year lines. By 2016, the standards would result in a 37 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from passenger cars and a 24 percent reduction from light trucks.

Governor Spitzer said: "That EPA would deny this request because, in its mind, there are no 'compelling and extraordinary conditions' is incomprehensible. The challenge of climate change is upon us, and is clearly worsening with time. Immediate and aggressive action is needed, and the nation's head environmental agency is not only sitting on the sidelines but denying states the ability to take necessary action."

Under the Clean Air Act, states other than California can adopt motor vehicle emission standards that have been adopted by California. New York, along with many other states, adopted the standards. The automobile industry brought lawsuits in Vermont and California to overturn those regulations, but lost both cases in decisions issued in September and earlier this month.

In announcing its decisions, EPA relied on the new fuel economy standards in the new federal energy law. But, in enacting the new law, Congress decided not to preempt states from enacting emission standards. In addition, the fuel economy standards do not go into effect until 2020, while the emission standards adopted by California, New York and other states would have taken effect a decade earlier, in 2009, and with full implementation by 2016.

Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Pete Grannis said: "Last week, in Bali, the federal government tried to prevent progress on addressing climate change. Now it steps firmly into the path of states that are trying to take effective action. The scientists of the world have warned us that we cannot wait a decade to act. If EPA will not lead, it must get out of the way."