Greenhouse Gas Limits

Finally. The United States Environmental Protection Agency has today ruled that six greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, are harmful to the health of humans and will therefore be listed amongst the other pollutants that can be regulated by the Clean Air Act. According to the official report, greenhouse gases have, among other things, the following impacts:

Montana could soon become the latest state to adopt California emissions rules if a recently-introduced bill becomes law. California still hasn't received the go-ahead from the EPA to even regulate carbon dioxide emissions but Montana Senate Bill 180 would make CO2 a regulated pollutant. If the EPA reverses a late-2007 ruling, automakers will have to achieve a fleet average of 44 mpg by the end of the next decade in order to meet the California standards. Montana Governor Brian Schwei

In spite of the fact that the US Environmental Protection Agency generates and publishes fuel economy ratings for US market cars and trucks, they aren't responsible for the regulations. The measurement of fuel economy ratings actually came about as a by-product of the emissions testing that the EPA has been responsible for since the original Clean Air Act. However, as various factions in Congress bicker over how much to increase fuel economy requirements and over what time frame, the EPA is fina

Congressman Rick Boucher of Virginia is trying to head off the EPA decision on granting a waiver to California so they can regulate greenhouse gases. At the same time as Congress is working on new fuel economy regulations, Boucher has drafted a bill that, if passed, would prevent any state from enforcing any greenhouse gas restrictions on vehicles. The legislation is intended to be part of a larger climate change control bill. Part of the new legislation would include having the EPA establish a

Most executives in the auto industry speak with one voice when it comes to California's efforts to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks and it's not a positive tone. Carmakers don't like having a patchwork of regulations to meet because that can result in rules that are at cross purposes.

In 2002 California passed legislation to require carmakers to reduce tailpipe emissions of greenhouse gases by thirty percent by 2016 and now three US Senators want to expand those rules to the rest of the country. California Senator Diane Feinstein, and Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine are co-sponsoring a senate bill that would require all new cars to meet the California emissions by 2016. It would also require fuels to use more low-carbon alternatives like biodiesel, ethanol, hydrogen