OSPIRG Commends Oregon Representatives for Fighting for Oregon’s Global Warming Policy

PORTLAND — A bipartisan group of U.S. Representatives, including four members of Oregon’s congressional delegation, sent a letter today to EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson, urging him to approve a waiver that Oregon and 10 other states need to implement their Clean Cars program, which will limit global warming pollution and other harmful emissions from cars and SUVs. The EPA has not acted on a waiver request originally made in December 2005.

“While the Bush administration sits on its hands, Oregon is taking action to reduce global warming pollution from cars and SUVs,” said Jeremiah Baumann, an environmental advocate with the Oregon State Public Interest Research Group (OSPIRG). “When it comes to global warming, the federal government has made it clear they won’t lead, so they need to either follow or get out of the way when states like Oregon enact common-sense solutions.”

The Clean Air Act allows states to adopt motor vehicle emissions standards that are more protective than federal minimum standards, as Oregon did with its Clean Cars program in June. Motor vehicle sales in the 11 states that have so far adopted the standards amount to about one-third of all new vehicles sold nationwide each year.

For states to implement the standards, however, EPA must grant a waiver under section 209(b) of the Clean Air Act, which California has requested. States that adopt more protective standards must maintain consistent standards, so only California, the first state to adopt the standards, needs a waiver.  Baumann noted EPA has routinely granted waiver requests more than 40 times in the last three decades.

However, EPA has failed to act on the request, and today Representatives Earl Blumenauer, Peter DeFazio, David Wu, and Darlene Hooley joined more than 100 other members of Congress in sending a letter to EPA Administrator Johnson urging him to take swift to “allow California and ten other leading states to adopt technically feasible and cost-effective emissions standards to reduce global warming pollution from new passenger vehicles.”

“These four members of Oregon’s congressional delegation are fighting for Oregon’s global warming solutions in Washington, DC. We commend them for their leadership,” said Baumann.

Cars, SUVs, and other transportation sources account for one-third of total U.S. global warming emissions. The Oregon standards begin with the 2009 model year and phase in gradually over eight years.  By the 2016 model year, they would cut global warming pollution from new vehicles by almost 30 percent.