Court to EPA: You can (and should) regulate greenhouse gases
In a landmark decision last week, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the Environmental Protection Agency does indeed have the legal authority, if not the responsibility, to set limits on the amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases produced by vehicles and industry. This goes against what businesses, members of the Bush administration and even some EPA officials had been claiming. The upshot: Expect to see tougher federal regulations on automotive pollution (and, by extension, fuel economy) in the future.
EPA approves urea to clean up diesel exhaust
In other news involving the country’s top environmental watchdogs, the agency recently issued guidelines for automakers planning to use urea-based solutions to reduce levels of oxides of nitrogen (NOx) in diesel exhaust. The EPA requests that automakers make it next to impossible for the vehicles to be operated without the after-treatment solutions for prolonged periods. Proposed ways of doing this include an array of warning lights and buzzers and limiting the number of engine starts allowed with an empty urea tank.
The upshot: After five years in exile, look for diesel-powered cars to return to California new car lots this winter.
Vermont emissions edict comes under scrutiny
The state of Vermont’s 2005 mandate that the CO2 emissions of new vehicles sold there be slashed 30 percent starting model year 2009 is being challenged in court by General Motors, DaimlerChrysler and Vermont car dealer groups. At stake is the ability of individual states to formulate their own emissions standards. A ruling in the state’s favor would likely lead to a con-fusing national patchwork of regulations that would leave many automakers essentially locked out of certain states.
The upshot: Unless the federal government devises CO2 rules that all the states can agree on, automakers (and consumers) are in for some big headaches.
—Tom Anderson
