Global Warming In the News

Rob Sargent is the senior energy policy analyst for the National Association of State Public Interest Research Groups (State PIRGs). Jeremiah Baumann is the energy advocate for the Oregon State Public Interest Research Group (OSPIRG).

In the 1,725 pages of the energy bill enacted by Congress and signed by President Bush, you won’t find acknowledgment of—let alone a plan to address—one of the world’s top energy-related challenges: global warming triggered by fossil fuel consumption.

But while Congress and the president continue to ignore the mounting evidence of a changing climate, state governments are taking action. One of their first targets is global warming pollution from cars and trucks.

The most recent battleground is Oregon, where Gov. Ted Kulongoski has committed to implement California’s upcoming standards on global warming pollution from vehicles. If the standards are implemented, new cars sold in Oregon would emit one-third less global warming pollution in 2016 than they do today and new light trucks would emit one-quarter less. These cleaner vehicles would cost more, but the cost increase would be offset by savings in operating costs, particularly for fuel—saving consumers money overall.

Moving to replace polluting cars on the road today with cleaner versions should be one of the top priorities for government at all levels. Today’s cars and light trucks are among the biggest sources of global warming pollution—responsible for about one-fifth of America’s outsized contribution to one of the world’s most significant environmental problems. On top of that, automobile pollution is a serious health threat; more than half of all Americans live in areas where the air is unhealthy to breathe, with car pollution a major culprit. Sales of hybrid-electric vehicles have exploded in recent years, showing consumers’ willingness to participate in a solution, but the environmentally friendly options in the new car showroom are few.

If Kulongoski prevails, Oregon will join a growing group of states that have adopted California’s clean car standards, which reduce emissions of smog-forming pollutants from cars, encourage the sale of advanced technology vehicles (such as ultra-clean gasoline-burning vehicles and hybrids), and, starting in 2009, will cap emissions of global warming pollutants.

To address their air pollution problems, several northeastern states—including New York, Massachusetts, Vermont and Maine—adopted California standards beginning in the 1990s. In the last two years, additional states including New Jersey, Connecticut and Rhode Island have followed suit. Most of these states have already committed to adopting California’s new standards for global warming pollution once they go into force in 2009.

The drive toward cleaner cars in the states has been heavily challenged by car makers who have applied their lobbying clout and substantial resources to defeating stronger emission controls. Manufacturers are currently suing in federal court to void California’s global warming emission standards and are angling to convince Congress and federal officials to make it harder for other states with air pollution problems to follow California’s lead.

The automakers are also working directly in the state legislatures to derail clean car efforts. In Oregon, they won a temporary victory several weeks ago when the legislature passed a budget bill with a provision prohibiting the state from adopting the clean car standards. Gov. Kulongoski has vowed to veto the provision, but the debate will continue.

The outcome in Oregon will have repercussions beyond the state’s borders. Earlier this year, Washington state agreed to adopt the global warming standards, but only if Oregon does so as well. And a clean cars victory in Oregon could bolster the effectiveness of a recent agreement by the three West Coast governors to reduce global warming pollution.

On a broader scale, a victory in Oregon would build the momentum for cleaner cars in other states. The southwestern states, where there is growing desire to take action on global warming (as well as severe air pollution in cities like Phoenix), and states with chronic smog problems (such as Illinois, Maryland, North Carolina and Pennsylvania), would all benefit from adopting clean car standards.

Gov. Kulongoski should be commended for standing up to the automobile makers and encouraged to use his administrative authority to adopt the standards this year. Officials in other states should take note: As the public grows increasingly restless over unhealthy air and inefficient vehicles, and the federal government continues to be unwilling to take on global warming, the crucial choice of whether to put cleaner cars on the road must be made locally.