Massachusetts Could Save over $5 Billion and Reduce Global Warming Pollution
Washington, DC – On March 5th, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency heard testimony on allowing California, Massachusetts and a dozen other states to move forward on strong clean cars standards that the Bush administration had been blocking. Giving a green light to Massachusetts’ clean cars program would reduce global warming pollution from cars by 26.1 million metric tons by 2020. And from reduced gasoline consumption, Bay Staters would save $5 Billion by 2020 at the pump, according to Environment Massachusetts’ analysis.
If all states opted into the clean cars program, the global warming pollution savings would reach the equivalent of eliminating the carbon dioxide pollution from all of the registered cars and light trucks in the country for an entire year and save Americans almost $260 billion at the pump by 2020.
“President Obama campaigned on a vision of a clean energy economy that helps the United States solve global warming, frees us from dependence on oil, and puts Americans to work in good jobs. Just days after taking office, the president gave the keys to EPA to start clean cars so we can stop global warming and unlock billions in savings at the pump.” said Winston Vaughan, Field Organizer for Environment Massachusetts.
Background:
Passenger vehicles are the second largest source of global warming emissions nationwide.
The Clean Air Act allows (1) California to set auto emissions standards that are stronger than federal standards (no such standards currently exist); and (2) other states to adopt California’s auto emissions standards. To implement the standards, EPA must issue California a waiver of federal preemption, an action the agency has taken many times in the last four decades for innovations like catalytic converters.
In 2005, California adopted first-of-their-kind standards requiring cars and light-duty trucks to limit emissions that contribute to global warming. The standards would cut global warming emissions from passenger vehicles by 30 percent by 2016. A total of 13 other states-Arizona, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington, plus the District of Columbia -have adopted the tailpipe standards. Several additional states are actively considering adopting the standards.
In March 2008, in an unprecedented action, the Bush administration denied California’s waiver request, blocking the states’ global warming emissions tailpipe standards.
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Environment Massachusetts is a state-wide, citizen supported environmental advocacy organization with 25,000 members across Massachusetts.
