EVLN(Gov. Gray Davis doesn't mention EVs)
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--- {EVangel}
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/cctimes/4252867.htm
Posted on Thu, Oct. 10, 2002
Feds join car firms to soften state law
Administration says California rules encroach on the federal
right to set auto mileage standards
By Mike Taugher CONTRA COSTA TIMES
The federal government weighed in Wednesday on behalf of the
auto industry in a lawsuit that seeks to overturn
California's pioneering, yet faltering, drive to get more
electric cars on the road.
In court papers filed in San Francisco, Bush administration
lawyers argued that California's electric vehicle rules are
encroaching on the federal government's exclusive authority
to regulate how many miles per gallon new cars get.
It was a rare and possibly unprecedented federal challenge
to vehicle pollution regulations in California, a national
leader in setting strict limits.
A spokesman for the California Environmental Protection
Agency said he was unaware of any similar challenge, and
although it is possible the federal government might have
objected in the past to small parts of California's
smog-fighting efforts, "there have been no major
interferences."
"California has always been in a unique position," said
Cal-EPA spokesman William L. Rukeyeser. "Among the 50
states, we're the only one where federal law gives us the
ability to set our own standards, which are more protective
of public health (than federal rules.)"
Under the state's zero-emission vehicle program adopted in
1990, 10 percent of new cars sold in California were to be
electric cars beginning with the 2003 model year. That is
nowhere near happening, and state regulators have rewritten
the ZEV rules several times in recognition of the difficulty
of building and selling battery-powered cars.
State air quality regulators have in recent years revised
rules to allow car companies to take credit for cars that
run extremely clean to help them meet the electric car sales
requirement.
The revisions include the use of federal mileage standards,
a tack that led General Motors, DaimlerChrysler and several
car dealerships to sue early this year.
In June, U.S. District Judge Robert E. Coyle in Fresno
issued a preliminary injunction suspending the ZEV program
pending a full trial. State regulators appealed, and on
Wednesday federal lawyers filed a 29-page brief backing the
industry's position.
The question of whether a state clean-air program treads on
the federal government's authority over mileage standards is
doubly important because that is also the main legal
objection to a new state law to limit greenhouse gas
emissions from cars within the next several years.
"You can rest assured that a lawsuit will be filed," said
Eron Shosteck, a spokesman for the Alliance of Automobile
Manufacturers, which represents 12 companies that together
make 90 percent of the cars sold in the U.S.
The only way to reduce carbon dioxide from tailpipes is to
burn less gas, which means either reducing the number of
miles that Californians drive or increasing fuel efficiency,
Shosteck said. He said it could be years before the legal
challenge to the greenhouse gas law is mounted.
"There is no technology, no device you can bolt onto a
vehicle to make it produce less carbon dioxide," Shosteck
said.
Rukeyeser of the state EPA said the ZEV program and the
greenhouse gas law are meant to clean up pollution, not
require mileage improvements.
"The state's regulations are about pollution," he said.
"It's never been our intention, and it still isn't, to
require more fuel efficiency."
Supporters of the ZEV program say that although battery-
powered cars have not taken off as they had hoped, the
requirement has spurred the popularity of hybrid cars and
provided a major boost to another type of electric car, the
fuel cell vehicle.
Early next year, state air-quality regulators plan to
re-examine the entire ZEV program in light of the legal
difficulties, problems with battery powered cars and the
unexpectedly rapid development nonpolluting fcs.
"fc and hybrid technology is a decade ahead of where
it would have been in the absence of zero-emission vehicle
regulations," Gov. Gray Davis said in a statement. "I am
disappointed that the federal government would intervene
with out efforts to protect our air quality."
Mike Taugher covers the environment and energy. Reach him at
925- 943-8257 or [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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. EV List Editor & RE newswires
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