Under Bush, Cali was forbidden from setting tougher car emissions laws for vehicles than the rest of the country. Now, under Obama, the rest of the country’s gonna have to meet Cali’s tougher standards.
Today, Obama announced a new emissions standard: “a single nationwide standard that would require a 30% reduction in carbon dioxide and other emissions from vehicles sold in the United States by 2016.”
That means the average fuel economy of new cars and trucks would have to be increased to 35.5 mpg by 2016, compared to 25 mpg today.
This new standard means that Cali will just go with the national standard instead of continuing to push for its own. According to the L.A. Times, “The Obama standard is designed to achieve the same level of emission cutbacks as the California rule, but automakers will be given more time to adapt.”
You can read Obama’s announcement for yourself here. In other good but unrelated Cali news, the Supreme Court’s not going to mess with Cali’s medical marijuana laws.
Photo by Simone Ramella
California has always set the standard that should be used across the US. As all the rest of the states energy usage has gone up California has flat-lined for years. It’s past time for others to take notice. I came from Polldaddy, Love your blog!
Brad West ~ onomoney
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Comment by Brad West — May 19, 2009 @ 4:38 pm
Woo!! It is RIDICULOUS, unconscionable that the Bush administration would actually seek to limit states’ attempts to lower emissions. Yay Obama!
Carrick’s last blog post..My good deed for the year: saving sea turtles at the LA River
Comment by Carrick — May 20, 2009 @ 11:23 am
Thanks Brad :)
So far, I’ve been v. happy with Obama, though I guess my day to day life hasn’t really changed…
Comment by Siel — May 22, 2009 @ 2:31 pm