fat rat
07-22-2002, 07:07 PM
New Calif. law curbs auto emissions
State takes on industry, Bush with law to take effect in 2006.
California is driving down a historic and controversial path of requiring new cars to sharply reduce emissions of gases thought by many scientists to be warming the Earth.
July 22 — Taking on the U.S. automotive industry and President Bush, California Gov. Gray Davis signed a bill into law Monday that will curb car emissions of carbon dioxide, a gas that could be warming the Earth. The industry and the president oppose mandatory cuts, but several other states — New York among them — could follow California’s path.
What's your take on California's law curbing carbon emissions?
It's about time, let's go national.
It's another government intrusion.
THE MEASURE makes California the first state to regulate vehicle emissions of so-called greenhouse gases. Specifically, it orders the state’s Air Resources Board to adopt regulations that would achieve “the maximum feasible reduction” in greenhouse gas emissions from cars and light-duty trucks, the category that includes sport utility vehicles, or SUVs. The most direct route to cutting emissions is to make vehicles get more miles to the gallon. Higher mileage means fewer gases emitted per mile driven.
“We Californians love our cars,” Davis said in comments directed at automakers. “Don’t change our cars. Just change the amount of harmful emissions that come from our cars.”
The regulations, which are to be completed by 2005, would not take effect until Jan. 1, 2006. The amended version of the bill also gives automakers until 2009 to devise technological changes or modifications to comply with the new standards.
Davis, a Democrat, announced Friday that he would sign the bill. “It is urgent that we act,” Davis told reporters, noting that many scientists “believe that global warming is no longer a theory, it is a reality.”
Below is a look at both sides of the issue, the politics behind it, as well as how CaliforniaÂ’s action could be used by other states to circumvent federal regulations.
Democrats across the country have attacked the Bush administration for failing to establish mandatory action to combat global warming, and environmental groups reacted with dismay when the federal government in April rejected a proposed 50 percent boost in fuel efficiency for gas-guzzling cars and SUVs.
In California — a Democratic stronghold with a strong record of environmental regulation — politicians moved to take the matter into their own hands, passing the new emissions bill by a narrow 41 to 30 vote in the state assembly this month.
If democrats had there way we'd all be running paddle boats!
State takes on industry, Bush with law to take effect in 2006.
California is driving down a historic and controversial path of requiring new cars to sharply reduce emissions of gases thought by many scientists to be warming the Earth.
July 22 — Taking on the U.S. automotive industry and President Bush, California Gov. Gray Davis signed a bill into law Monday that will curb car emissions of carbon dioxide, a gas that could be warming the Earth. The industry and the president oppose mandatory cuts, but several other states — New York among them — could follow California’s path.
What's your take on California's law curbing carbon emissions?
It's about time, let's go national.
It's another government intrusion.
THE MEASURE makes California the first state to regulate vehicle emissions of so-called greenhouse gases. Specifically, it orders the state’s Air Resources Board to adopt regulations that would achieve “the maximum feasible reduction” in greenhouse gas emissions from cars and light-duty trucks, the category that includes sport utility vehicles, or SUVs. The most direct route to cutting emissions is to make vehicles get more miles to the gallon. Higher mileage means fewer gases emitted per mile driven.
“We Californians love our cars,” Davis said in comments directed at automakers. “Don’t change our cars. Just change the amount of harmful emissions that come from our cars.”
The regulations, which are to be completed by 2005, would not take effect until Jan. 1, 2006. The amended version of the bill also gives automakers until 2009 to devise technological changes or modifications to comply with the new standards.
Davis, a Democrat, announced Friday that he would sign the bill. “It is urgent that we act,” Davis told reporters, noting that many scientists “believe that global warming is no longer a theory, it is a reality.”
Below is a look at both sides of the issue, the politics behind it, as well as how CaliforniaÂ’s action could be used by other states to circumvent federal regulations.
Democrats across the country have attacked the Bush administration for failing to establish mandatory action to combat global warming, and environmental groups reacted with dismay when the federal government in April rejected a proposed 50 percent boost in fuel efficiency for gas-guzzling cars and SUVs.
In California — a Democratic stronghold with a strong record of environmental regulation — politicians moved to take the matter into their own hands, passing the new emissions bill by a narrow 41 to 30 vote in the state assembly this month.
If democrats had there way we'd all be running paddle boats!