President Obama will issue executive orders Monday allowing states to set own automobile emissions

[TeamJordan23]

January 26, 2009
Obama to Direct Shift in Emissions Regulations
By JOHN M. BRODER and PETER BAKER

WASHINGTON — President Obama will direct federal regulators on Monday to move swiftly on an application by California and 13 other states to set strict automobile emission and fuel efficiency standards, two administration officials said Sunday evening.

The directive makes good on an Obama campaign pledge and signifies a sharp reversal of Bush administration policy. Granting California and the other states the right to regulate tailpipe emissions would be one of the most emphatic actions Mr. Obama could take to quickly put his stamp on environmental policy.

Mr. Obama stops short of ordering the agencies to reverse the Bush administration policy, but they are widely expected to do so.

Once they act, automobile manufacturers will quickly have to retool to begin producing and selling cars and trucks that get higher mileage than the national standard, and on a faster phase-in schedule. The auto companies have lobbied hard against the regulations and challenged them in court.

Mr. Obama will use the announcement to bolster the impression of a sharp break from the Bush era on all fronts, following his decisions last week to close the detention facility at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba; tighten limits on interrogation tactics by Central Intelligence Agency officers; order plans to withdraw combat forces from Iraq; and reverse President George W. Bush’s financing restrictions on groups that promote or provide abortion overseas, administration officials said.

Beyond acting on the California emissions law, officials said, Mr. Obama will announce that he is moving forward with nationwide regulations requiring the automobile industry to increase fuel efficiency standards to comply with a 2007 law, rules that the Bush administration decided at the last minute not to issue.

He will also order federal departments and agencies to find new ways to save energy and be more environmentally friendly. And he will highlight the elements in his economic plan intended to create jobs around renewable energy.

Full Article - http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/26/us/politics/26calif.html?hp

[EraOfResponsibility]

1. Hot damn! Obama's on the case

[ikojo]

2. Missouri's emission standards will be among

The least strict. Good thing that California is so big because their standards will basically become the defacto standard. It works that way
for two stroke scooters.

[DJ13]

3. Thats a bad idea

It could create a hodgepodge of regulations that places added pressure onto our already struggling automakers.

If we had a healthy economy, and healthy car companies, great.

But this is a bad time for this.

[Uzybone]

4. Yeah, forget the environment

come on, we need to do something about emissions and do it now. Waiting for auto industry to "recover" is something Bush would have said.

[Muttocracy]

6. California has had tougher standards for decades, and the car companies always meet them. nt

[TeamJordan23]

9. when have the US automakers not been 'struggling'?

[patricia92243]

10. I agree. States with Republican governors who don't believe in global warming could not set any

standards if they choose.

[dethl]

11. Automakers will default to the highest standard for all their vehicles in that case...

It'll be easier to just match the most stringent regulation rather than make multiple cars with multiple regulations, the market will find it's own way to balance out. :D

[backscatter712]

5. Score another one for the good guys!!!

YES!!!

And it forces the auto industry to do a little actual innovation - they're whining about it now, but this will be good for them in the long term.

[Muttocracy]

7. Yippee!!!

[texastoast]

8. That will likely suck for Texas

But your forward-thinking, visionary states will benefit. Sigh.