Power to Protect: The Critical Role States Play in Cleaning Up Pollution from Mobile Sources

6/15/2005

Executive Summary

Despite progress over the last 35 years, air pollution remains a major public health and environmental problem. States hold the primary responsibility for improving air quality, since the federal government establishes air quality standards and requires states to meet them. California, however, has unique authority under federal law to adopt emission standards for cars, trucks, and most other mobile sources of air pollution that are more protective than federal emission standards; subsequently, other states have the right to choose between implementing federal emission standards or the more stringent California ones. In addition to offering states a critical tool to reduce air pollution, California’s emission standards also have spurred stronger federal emission standards that benefit all Americans, filled gaps left in federal protections, and served as a backstop against the weakening of federal protections. Unfortunately, states’ ability to protect their citizens from air pollution faces an unprecedented threat from industry groups and their allies in Congress and the Bush administration.

More than half—52 percent—of all Americans live in areas with unsafe levels of either groundlevel ozone (“smog”) or particle pollution (“soot”). Mobile sources—including cars and trucks, as well as non-road engines (such as those in recreational vehicles, farm and construction machinery, lawn and garden equipment, marine vessels, and locomotives)—are the largest source nationwide of smog-forming pollutants and major contributors to soot pollution.These pollutants exacerbate or even cause asthma, heart and lung disease, and premature death. In addition, mobile sources such as cars and SUVs release one-third of the nation’s emissions of carbon dioxide, the leading global warming pollutant, and are the largest source of cancercausing toxic emissions such as benzene.

The Clean Air Act sets federal air quality standards but requires the states do much of the work to implement them. For many states, federal programs to reduce pollution from power plants, cars and trucks, and other sources are not enough to meet these standards. As a result, states are often at the forefront of developing and testing novel policies to address local air quality problems.

Only California, however, has the authority under the Clean Air Act to enact emission standards for mobile sources that are more stringent than federal standards, given the state’s pioneering work to clean up tailpipe emissions and its severe air pollution problems. Fortunately, the Clean Air Act also allows other states with polluted areas to adopt California’s emission standards in lieu of federal standards, giving states a powerful tool to protect public health.

This statutory authority to adopt California’s standards for mobile sources is a critical tool for several reasons:

First, states with entrenched or unique air pollution problems not solved by federal standards have the option of adopting policies proven to reduce pollution in California. For example, eight states already have adopted California’s stronger “low emission vehicle” (LEV) standards to realize even deeper emissions reductions from cars, SUVs and other light trucks than federal law requires. New York also has followed California’s lead and adopted more stringent emission standards for jet skis and personal watercraft.

Second, as more states adopt California’s clean air protections, the federal government becomes more likely to strengthen its standards to benefit all Americans. In addition to giving states with entrenched air pollution problems a more protective alternative to federal standards, California’s LEV program gave rise to national standards for tailpipe emissions, which have helped improve air quality across the board. Similarly, California became the first to cut smog-forming emissions from the small sparkignition engines used in lawn and garden equipment such as lawnmowers and chain saws; EPA used these standards as the basis for federal regulations a few years later.

State vehicle emission policies also can serve as a backstop to discourage federal policymakers from rolling back national standards and fill any gaps left in federal protections. For example, the federal government’s standards for heavy-duty diesel trucks and buses, set to go into effect in 2007, left a two-year gap during which time manufacturers could make more polluting engines. California acted quickly to fill this gap, and 12 states and the District of Columbia followed California’s lead. California also adopted emission standards for diesel engines that are nearly identical to the federal regulations. Since the oil and trucking industries may try to delay the federal standards, states not willing to risk delay can opt in to California’s standards immediately; at least 11 states and the District of Columbia have done so.

Unfortunately, automobile and engine manufacturers and other industry groups have long challenged the right of California to adopt stronger standards than federal law as well as other states’ authority to opt in to those standards. In September 2003, industry was successful in weakening the states’ right to protect their residents from mobile sources of air pollution for the first time in the Clean Air Act’s 35-year history. As California took action to strengthen its emission standards for small spark-ignition engines used in lawn and garden equipment, Senator Christopher Bond of Missouri inserted a rider on the FY04 appropriations bill that prevents states from adopting California’s new standards for lawn and garden equipment. This rider also could preempt states from adopting California’s forthcoming standards for some forklifts and other larger spark-ignition engines. Senator Bond introduced this rider at the request of a single company, Briggs & Stratton, which manufactures the engines in question and owns a facility in Senator Bond’s home state.

This is a dangerous precedent, and other industries are eager for similar victories. Recognizing California and other states as powerful players in the regulation of emissions from mobile sources, automobile and engine manufacturers and other industries continue to fight state emission standards that are stronger than federal law. Most recently, automobile manufacturers filed suit against a new California program to cut global warming emissions from cars and SUVs.

These efforts to limit states’ rights threaten to weaken the federal-state partnership that has helped reduce air pollution from mobile sources for the last three decades. The federal Clean Air Act sets a minimum standard for air quality that all Americans have the right to enjoy. But not all states’ air pollution problems are the same; therefore, not all solutions are going to be the same. Giving states the right to go above and beyond federal requirements—without hitting an artificial ceiling—is essential for many areas to attain the goals set out by the Clean Air Act.