About the Author
Jennifer Andersen is an advocate with Environment Maine, an environmental lobbying group, in Portland.
This summer's scorching heat wave drove global warming home for many
Americans and melted away the stubborn skepticism of others. The
National Academy of Sciences reported in September that the planet's
temperature has reached levels not seen in thousands of years.
What is the Bush administration doing about this problem? In late
September, it announced its "strategic plan" to address global warming,
which fails to require any reduction in global-warming pollution, let
alone achieve the cuts necessary to avoid the worst impacts of global
warming.
Somewhat ironically, on the heels of this announcement, the journal
Nature revealed that the administration blocked release of a National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration report suggesting that global
warming is contributing to the frequency and strength of hurricanes.
The administration is putting up roadblocks for states trying to take
immediate action to cut global warming pollution from cars and light
trucks.
The Clean Air Act allows states to choose between complying with
federal vehicle emission standards and adopting the more protective
standards -- known as the Clean Cars Program -- implemented by the
state of California.
In late 2004, California adopted new standards requiring cars and
light-duty trucks to limit emissions that contribute to global warming.
Nine other states -- Maine, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New
York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington -- have followed
suit, and Pennsylvania moved one step closer to adopting its Clean
Vehicles Program in mid-September.
These state programs will have a measurable impact. The 10 states that
have adopted the Clean Cars Program will cut global warming pollution
from cars, light trucks and SUVs by a total of 64 million metric tons
per year in 2020. Put another way, by 2020 the program will eliminate
as much carbon dioxide annually as is produced by 63 coal-fired power
plants generating enough power for nearly a quarter of U.S. homes.
So what's the problem? The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has
been sitting on California's application for a waiver under the Clean
Air Act, which will permit the state to require stricter global warming
emission standards for new vehicles.
Without the Bush administration's stamp of approval, California -- and
the other states that have adopted the Clean Cars Program, including
Maine -- will not be able to take this important step toward cutting
global warming pollution from cars and light trucks, (the largest
source of global warming pollution in Maine).
EPA has granted California's waiver requests more than 40 times in the
last three decades. Why is the Bush administration dragging its feet?
The oil industry and big automakers.
At the end of September, a group of more than 100 bipartisan members of
Congress, including Maine's Reps. Tom Allen and Michael Michaud, wrote
EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson urging him to grant the waiver
without delay.
These representatives wrote that, " California's requirements are
clearly more protective than the federal standards, as the federal
government has not yet set emissions standards for global-warming
pollution."
So far, there has been no response from the EPA or the Bush administration.
Global warming demands immediate action. The Bush administration should
grant California's waiver request and give states the power to cut
global-warming pollution from cars and light trucks.
- Special to the Press Herald
