Citing two unnamed Administration officials, the New York Times reported Sunday that President Obama will on Monday direct the EPA to go swiftly to reconsider an application by California and, by extension, 13 other states for a waiver to implement greenhouse gas standards on new light-duty vehicles (California AB 1493, the Pavley regulations).
Mr. Obama’s presidential memorandum will order the Environmental Protection Agency to reconsider the Bush administration’s past rejection of the California application. While it stops small of flatly ordering the Bush choice reversed, the agency’s regulators are now widely expected to do so after completing a formal review process.
In May, the California Air Resources Board issued an addendum to an earlier technical study that shows that California’s clean cars law (the Pavley regulations) could achieve 41% greater total reductions of greenhouse gases nationwide if implemented nationally compared to the recently proposed federal fuel economy standards by 2020. (Earlier post.)
The NY Times report also said that Obama will direct the Department of Transportation to finalize the rulemaking on Corporate Fuel Economy Standards for model years 2011-2015. Although DOT’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) had originally anticipated issuing the final rule prior to the end of year, the Bush Administration left office without finalizing the rulemaking. (Earlier post.)
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