Toxic Free Future Reports

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

6/5/2005

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:

- For 40 years, federal emission standards for mobile sources have been based on or substantially informed by California’s pioneering standards, such that California’s actions serve to benefit the entire nation. For example, California’s “low emission vehicle” (LEV) program gave rise to national standards for tailpipe emissions, which have helped improve air quality across the country.

- States with entrenched or unique air pollution problems not solved by federal standards can adopt policies proven to reduce pollution in California. Fifteen states have opted in to at least one of California’s more protective emission standards; these states, plus California, are home to 142 million Americans, or almost half of the population.

- 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, California’s standards for heavy-duty diesel trucks and buses fill a two-year gap in federal standards that allow manufacturers to sell more polluting engines; 12 states and the District of Columbia have adopted this California standard.

Automakers, engine manufacturers, oil companies, and other industry groups have long challenged the right of California to adopt stronger emission standards as well as other states’ authority to opt in to those standards. In January 2004, industry was successful in weakening states’ ability to protect their residents from mobile sources of air pollution for the first time in the Clean Air Act’s 35-year history. The law now prohibits states from opting in to California’s more protective emission standards for small and mid-sized spark-ignition engines, such as those used in lawn and garden equipment, forklifts, and recreational boats. Industry groups have said next they will try to eliminate states’ mobile source authority altogether.

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.

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