Source of this article - Los Angeles Times, March 17, 2006
By Janet Wilson, Times Staff Writer
A National Research Council panel on Thursday overwhelmingly endorsed
California's tough air pollution regulations, saying the state had served as "a
proving ground for new emissions-control technologies that benefit California
and the rest of the nation."
Missouri Republican Sen. Kit Bond persuaded
Congress in 2003 to order the study of California's air regulatory track record,
saying the nation's largest lawn mower engine manufacturer was threatening to
move 22,000 jobs overseas because of the state's overreaching, costly
requirements.
The panel not only found that California's unique legal
right under the Clean Air Act to set stricter standards than the federal
government was "scientifically valid," and "still needed because of persistent
pollution," but also recommended that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
speed up its review of such regulations.
"As with any laboratory there
are some failures, and that has sometimes imposed financial burdens on the auto
manufacturing industry, for instance, but there have also been spectacular
successes," said report co-author Gary Marchant, a law professor at Arizona
State University.
Marchant was one of 11 experts who prepared the report
for the Research Council, a nonpartisan arm of the National Academy of Sciences
that advises Congress.
The results thrilled state air regulators, medical
groups and environmentalists who have feared a weakening of states' powers to
regulate smog.
"The study blew up in Sen. Bond's face…. It's a complete
vindication for California and its groundbreaking efforts to deal with the
problem of pollution from cars and other moving sources," said Frank O'Donnell
of Clean Air Watch, a Washington-based nonprofit organization. "The fact is,
breathers from coast to coast are breathing cleaner air today because of
California."
Under the Clean Air Act, every other state must follow
rules set by the EPA, unless California adopts stricter standards, which other
states with smog problems can then follow.
"We're very pleased," said
California Air Resources Board spokesman Jerry Martin. "Clearly the report
justifies our position that we need to have separate standards. Air pollution
rates in California in general have plummeted in the last 30 years or so, and
that's largely due to California's unique emission standards for … all engines
that we are allowed to regulate…. Anything we can regulate, we have."
On
Thursday, Bond spokesman Rob Ostrander defended the study request, saying the
senator acted after Briggs & Stratton threatened to move its factories
overseas because of California's impending requirement to require catalytic
converters in power mowers.
Bond said the California rule could have
closed two small-engines plants in Missouri alone.
Ostrander said, "Sen.
Bond is not planning or considering any major revisions to the Clean Air Act,
but does reserve the right to fight again any repeat attempt by California to
kill jobs in other states."
The panel of scientists said something needed
to be done to stop lengthy litigation that often occurred when other states
tried to emulate California's standards, but could not agree on proposed
measures. One option they mentioned would be for the EPA to have veto power over
other states, as they do over California. Auto makers pushed for such a
recommendation by the panel, which state air boards vehemently opposed.
"We are pleased that the [National Research Council] committee did not
recommend any changes — legislative or regulatory — to restrict the ability of
states to adopt California's motor vehicle standards," said S. William Becker,
executive director of two national associations of state and local air boards.
"The [council] decided not to yield to pressure from special
interests."
Gloria Bergquist, a spokeswoman for the Alliance of
Automobile Manufacturers, said that although auto manufacturers had never
suggested California lose its special status, "we do believe that EPA's federal
program provides states with comparable clean air benefits."
She said,
"Bottom line, the [National Research Council] report emphasizes the benefits of
everyone working toward a shared goal of clean air, instead of acting like
adversaries."
California must seek waivers from the EPA for its rules,
and such applications often languish for years. The panel recommended the EPA
set a two-year limit for making such decisions The state currently is awaiting
federal approval of standards for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from
vehicles, and requiring catalytic converters on lawn mowers.
Auto makers
have sued to stop California, Vermont, New York, Rhode Island and New York from
implementing their own greenhouse gas standards.
Panel Chairman David T.
Allen, a professor of chemical engineering at the University of Texas, said in a
teleconference Thursday morning that auto manufacturers in particular had
complained in testimony about the costs of designing special products for
California, but had declined to provide full evidence of those costs.
