California CO2 regs draw fire

Legislation in California that will override federally established corporate average fuel economy standards and reduce CO₂ emissions is vague and won't hold up in court, says a U.S. Dept. of Energy official.

“Carbon dioxide is not recognized in the Clean Air Act as a pollutant,” Dave Garman, U.S. Energy Dept. assistant secretary-energy efficiency and renewable energy, says at the Traverse City Management Briefing Seminars.

“And that would lead me — a non-lawyer — to the conclusion that it (the legislation) is mainly a surrogate for efficiency. California has the right by law to do separate tail pipe emissions for pollutants,” he says. “But since carbon dioxide is not a pollutant, we view this as an efficiency measure, which by federal law is the responsibility of the (U.S.) Dept. of Transportation.”

Says Alan Lloyd, chairman of the California Air Resources Board, “I think this is a matter that ultimately will be decided in the courts. Having said that, I have read the law, and I've found it to be quite vague.”

He says the state's lawyers and environmental activists “think they can sustain this in court,” noting that California only moved ahead with the CO₂ legislation because it saw little national action.