California banned from reducing emissions

Plans in California to place stringent legal limits on the level of greenhouse gases produced by vehicles produced in the state have been turned down by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

California was planning to set legal limits on the carbon emissions of all new vehicles produced in the state from 2009.

However, under the Clean Air Act, the state needed permission from the federal EPA to introduce the regulations. If the EPA had given the state the waiver it required, then the federal standards could have been over-written. However, waivers can only be granted in exceptional circumstances if a state can show how it is set apart from other US states.

When turning the waiver application down, EPA administrator Stephen Johnson said that no “compelling and extraordinary” conditions could be found that would allow California to depart from national policy. In addition, because greenhouse gases are a global issue, local action would not produced localised results.

Environmentalists claim that the current administration, rather than scientific evidence, has forced the EPA’s decision.

A statement by Friends of the Earth USA read: “The Bush administration has chosen to stand with polluters instead of the planet in rejecting California’s waiver request to limit greenhouse gas pollution from vehicles.

“Nothing in the document released today justifies EPA’s decision - in fact, it confirms recent reports that the denial was a political decision which contradicts the professional advice of EPA scientists and staff.

“The document highlights the threat caused by global warming and underscores the need for states to act on their own to cut greenhouse gas emissions.”