As the new home of NJPIRG's environmental work, Environment New Jersey can be contacted regarding this news release.
TRENTON—NJPIRG on March 16 commended the National Research Council (NRC), an arm of the
National Academy of Sciences, for resisting pressure from special
interests to erode the ability of New Jersey and other states to
protect their citizens from air pollution and global warming. In a
report released on March 16, the NRC affirmed the vital role that states play
in reducing pollution from cars, diesel trucks and other moving
sources.
The
auto industry had strongly urged the NRC to recommend that Congress
change the Clean Air Act to create additional red tape for states that
want to adopt more protective emission standards, including the Clean
Cars Act, which New Jersey passed in early 2004 despite ferocious
lobbying by the automobile industry.
“The
states are leading the charge in reducing air pollution and global
warming,” said Dena Mottola, NJPIRG’s Executive Director. “The last
thing we need is for the federal government to create more red tape for
states that are tackling these problems.”
Instead,
the NRC concluded that the states’ efforts have improved air quality.
The NRC did not recommend any legislative or regulatory changes in the
current process by which states adopt emission standards—changes that
would further restrict the states’ rights to protect citizens’ health.
New
Jersey has adopted emission standards that are more protective than the
federal standards for cars, light trucks and diesel trucks. New Jersey
officially adopted the Clean Cars regulations in December of 2005 under
Gov. Codey. The Clean Cars regulations will reduce air toxics by 23% by
2020 – the equivalent of taking half a million cars off New Jersey
roads – and the regulations would reduce greenhouse gases by about 15%
by 2020.
In
February, NJPIRG released a report showing that the clean cars programs
now in effect in 10 states will reduce global warming pollution by 64
million metric tons per year in 2020, an amount greater than the
national emissions of more than 140 nations.
States
have long been at the forefront of policies to reduce air pollution and
global warming. Under the Clean Air Act, California—which suffers from
the worst air pollution in the nation—has unique authority to adopt
emissions standards for mobile sources that are more protective than
federal standards. Other states with poor air quality can then adopt
California’s more stringent standards.
In
the report, the NRC states, “California has used its authority as
Congress envisioned: to implement more aggressive measures than the
rest of the country and to serve as a laboratory for technological
innovation.” The NRC calls California’s more protective emission
standards “a proving ground for new emissions-control technologies that
benefit California and the rest of the nation.”
Overall,
15 states and the District of Columbia—which with California account
for more than half of the U.S. population—have adopted one or more of
California’s emissions standards for cars and light trucks, diesel
trucks, or other mobile sources. In 2005 alone, Connecticut, Maine,
Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and
Washington adopted California’s rules to limit global warming pollution
from passenger vehicles.
The
NRC report stems from an amendment that U.S. Senator Kit Bond of
Missouri inserted into the fiscal year 2003 omnibus appropriations
bill, directing the NRC to study state practices in setting emission
standards for cars, trucks, and other mobile sources of air pollution.
Later in 2003, Senator Bond sponsored the first weakening of states’
authority under the Clean Air Act in the law’s 35-year history; the law
now precludes every state but California from adopting more protective
standards for the engines used in lawnmowers and garden equipment.
The
report recommends that EPA expedite the process for reviewing
California’s standards. The panel also considered ways to modify the
process by which other states adopt California’s standards but did not
agree on a specific recommendation.
In
2005, at least 16 states, including New Jersey, wrote to the NRC to
urge the panel not to make it harder for states to tackle air pollution
and global warming.
Nationwide,
159 million people live in counties that violate the national health
standard for ozone “smog” pollution and 95 million people live in
counties that violate the health standard for fine particle “soot”
pollution. Cars, trucks, and other mobile sources are the largest
source of smog pollution and major contributors to soot pollution.
These pollutants cut short the lives of tens of thousands of Americans
each year and contribute to serious respiratory and cardiovascular
problems, including asthma attacks, lung cancer, and heart disease. In
addition, mobile sources release one-third of the nation’s emissions of
carbon dioxide, the leading global warming pollutant.
