Abolish the EPA!

[ReaderSushi]

Single largest culprit in air pollution is cars right?
What happens if we eliminate the CAFE and air pollution standards as it pertains to vehicles and allow states to set their own standards?
I don't see how it's possible to maintain 50 diffrent sets of standards sowould we simply end up with the common standards + the higher ones where there is a conflict?

Am I missing something obvious or still sleepy and drunk?

[madrchsod]

1. not sure of your condition but

california basically sets the standards for auto pollution standards. more cars are sold in california than any other state and it`s not cost effective anymore to produce two different engine specs.

[kahleefornia]

2. Bush wanted to sue California

(or change the law?) a while back, saying that California could not have standards that were higher than the national standard. Sorry I don't have good facts or a source for this, but if you're interested I'm sure you could google it. I remember reading about it in the Sierra Club magazine. If I can find it, I'll post it here.

[kahleefornia]

3. ah, here....

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/a/2003/02/14/MN84524.DTL

The Bush administration joined automakers Thursday in urging a federal appeals court to maintain a roadblock on California's pioneering clean-air rules that require increased sales of electric and low-polluting vehicles.

In a hearing before the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, attorneys for the Justice Department, General Motors and DaimlerChrysler argued that the rules adopted by California's air quality board in 2001 intruded on the federal government's exclusive authority to regulate fuel efficiency.

Outside the courtroom, state Attorney General Bill Lockyer said the Bush administration's unprecedented role in the case was part of a campaign to "roll back California's environmental protections."

The attack on the state emissions rules focuses on a provision that gives manufacturers credit toward compliance by selling a certain percentage of fuel- efficient hybrid vehicles that run on both gasoline and electricity, and exceed federal miles-per-gallon standards by 30 percent. A federal judge found that requirement illegal last year and blocked the entire program.

"Congress has not given authority to the state under the Clean Air Act to regulate fuel economy," Justice Department lawyer Robert Loeb told the three- judge panel.

The state's lawyers countered that California is regulating air pollution, not fuel economy. They noted that the federal Clean Air Act allows California to set the nation's strictest clean-air standards. (more...)