CaliforniaGov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called on the nation Wednesday to join California in mandating deep cuts in auto emissions that carmakers called technologically impossible.
“Detroit is still lagging behind,” Schwarzenegger said in a speech at Georgetown University in Washington. “Arnold to Michigan: Get off your butts and join us.”
Georgetown students and faculty cheered the governor’s swaggering rhetoric, although automakers warned that the stringent emission standards California and 11 other states adopted already hurt consumers.
“Currently there are no light–duty diesel vehicles that meet the California standard,” Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers spokesman Charles Territo said. “And because of that, states that have the California emissions standards don’t have access to light–duty diesel vehicles. Manufacturers just don’t sell them in those states. And ironically, when it comes to reducing greenhouse gases, clean diesel vehicles are some of the most fuel–efficient vehicles on the road today.”
Schwarzenegger has pushed a reluctant Environmental Protection Agency to sanction California’s self-created emissions standards, which are considered the toughest in the world. He said this month’s decision by a sharply divided Supreme Court, which ruled 5-4 that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases should be regulated, helped his case.
“The government can give a push in setting standards, so California is giving the nation and the world a push,” Schwarzenegger said in his speech. “What we do in California has an unbelievable impact in this country. We are going to change the dynamic. We are taking actions ourselves. We are not waiting for anyone. We are not waiting for the federal government up in Washington.”
Automakers have filed lawsuits to block Schwarzenegger’s standards, which call for increasing the fuel efficiency of passenger cars from an average of 27.5 miles per gallon of gasoline tomore than 43 mpg.
“We don’t believe that the standard, as currently drafted, is technologically feasible,” Territo said. “We believe that current federal law pre–empts individual states from setting their own standards. And that’s been to prevent a patchwork quilt of state regulations for automobiles.”
