National Clean Car Standards Show Value of State Leadership, Clean Air Act, and Business Innovation

Contact:

Ross Macfarlane: 206-913-9800; ross@climatesolutions.org

Andy Grow: 202-713-1792; andy@climatesolutions.org

“Today’s announcement of national standards for cleaner, more efficient cars is a huge victory for American consumers, businesses and the environment.  As a result of EPA’s decision, consumers will save an average of $3000 dollars at the pump, we will send far less money overseas to pay for our oil addiction, and we will eliminate almost one billion tons in global warming pollution.  Vehicles are the largest single source of climate pollution in the Northwest, and we desperately need cleaner vehicles to begin to implement our climate goals.

 Today’s decision is a direct result of the actions by Washington, Oregon and other leadership states in demanding that we move to cleaner, more efficient vehicles. Climate Solutions is proud to have played a key role in the campaigns to adopt clean car standards in the Northwest States, and wants to thank Governors Gregoire and Kulongoski, the leaders in the state legislatures and the many partners  who had the vision and foresight to demand cleaner cars and worked hard to make this possible.

There are three important lessons that we can draw from this victory:
 

• First, state leadership can catalyze national progress.  At the time that Washington and Oregon were considering clean car standards, national automakers told us that our actions were irrelevant and we might even get frozen out of national car markets.  Today’s announcement directly results from the actions of Washington, Oregon and other states in joining with California to demand cleaner and more efficient cars.  As we move forward, we need to preserve the ability of states to lead and innovate, and act as “laboratories of democracy.”  We also need to continue to drive forward in our states to maintain leadership on these critical issues.
• Second, the Clean Air Act works.  As we celebrate the 40th anniversary of this landmark environmental law, it is ironic that many are again seeking to weaken and delay its use to solve our critical problems.  Today’s decision is the first time that the Act has been used to address global warming pollution.  As has happened many times in the past, critics have complained that the proposed actions are impossible and unaffordable.  Time after time, those critics have been proved wrong.  Solutions have been available to meet the standards at a fraction of the costs estimated.  The health and economic benefits of the Clean Air Act have been consistently proven to exceed costs by as much as 5 to 1. As we move to create clean energy and climate policy for the new century, we need to build on the foundation that the Clean Air Act provides, not weaken or eliminate it.
• Third, when companies turn from litigation to innovation, solutions happen. For years, automakers and big oil used the courts to delay the clean car laws passed here and in other states. Meanwhile, their market shares crumbled and taxpayers have had to pay billions to prop up some of the former giants of American industry.  Today’s decision results, in part, from the decision of the automakers to work with government to support a strong  national standard and to begin creating the fleets of cleaner vehicles that consumers want and the planet demands. 
  

A great example of this renewed spirit of innovation happened yesterday when Ford CEO Alan Mullally and MSFT chief, Steve Balmer announced that they were partnering to create smart grid technology to allow homeowners to power Ford’s new electric vehicles, using MSFT’s new Hohm technology.  It is great to see an icon of the auto industry partnering with a NW based leader in technology to create solutions for the vehicles and energy system of the future.

Finally, while we celebrate this great victory, we need to focus on the desperate need for comprehensive clean energy and climate policy at the national level.  Good clean energy policy will make America competitive in the global race to create alternatives to fossil fuels, will create millions of good jobs, increase our security, and put us on the path to addressing the challenge of global warming.”

Climate Solutions is a northwest organization accelerating practical and profitable solutions to global warming by galvanizing leadership, growing investment and bridging divides.

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