Economy and Public Health Will Benefit if Clean Car Standards Are
Well-Designed, Group Testifies
EPA Urged to Revise Proposed Zero Emission Rate for Electric Plug-In Vehicles
LOS ANGELES, Oct. 27 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- California's and the nation's
economy and environment will reap significant benefits - and avoid costly
impacts - if proposed federal standards to establish national vehicle
greenhouse gas and fuel economy standards for new cars and trucks sold in the
United States "are rigorous and well-designed." That was the testimony by a
policy specialist from Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) today at the third and
final hearing on the proposed rulemaking for the standards held by EPA and the
U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT).
"The fundamental promise of the presidential accord - and the bedrock
responsibility for the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of
Transportation in finalizing the proposed standards - is to achieve profound
and lasting progress in national security, climate stability and economic
opportunity," testified Erica Fick, clean energy fellow for Environmental
Defense Fund. "Consumers should save an estimated $3,000 over the life of
each of these cleaner vehicles. We respectfully request that federal
policy-makers finalize rigorous and protective standards to ensure the promise
of the president's compact is realized."
To establish one well-designed policy, EDF challenged the EPA to reconsider
how it approaches accounting for greenhouse gas emissions resulting from
generating electricity to power plug-in vehicles.
"The EPA's proposal to assign a zero greenhouse gas emission rate for the
electric portion of plug-in electric vehicles seriously misses the mark,"
added Fick. "EPA must ensure that the pollution associated with the upstream
electricity generation that powers plug-in vehicles is fully accounted for in
the emissions assigned to these vehicles."
The proposed federal standards - based on California's clean car law - would
apply to new model year 2012 to 2016 vehicles and reduce global warming
pollution from transportation nationally by an estimated 21 percent by 2030.
Transportation is a major sector of emissions that accounts for about 20
percent of all greenhouse gases nationwide.
The standards would apply to vehicles that are responsible for about 40
percent of all U.S. oil consumption and, if approved, would reduce consumption
of oil by 1.8 billion barrels while achieving a five percent annual
improvement in fuel efficiency for the nation's passenger vehicle fleet.
Fick noted that California has more than 30 million registered vehicles that
are a major contributor to global warming pollution in the state.
California's coastline spans more than 1,000 miles, and 70 percent of
California's population lives within 60 miles of the coast. Recent analysis
predicts a 1.4 meter rise in sea level by 2100 putting 480,000 people at risk.
Global warming is likely to make water management more difficult, contentious
and expensive by disrupting snowmelt patterns that provide drinking water for
over 20 million Californians and irrigation water for California's $30 billion
agricultural industry. Heat waves are projected to become longer, hotter, and
more frequent, leading to more heat-related deaths. Hotter and drier weather
also will lead to harmful wildfires that threaten lives and property.
When finalized and carried out, the standards will have important societal
benefits, Fick testified. They include breaking our nation's addiction to
foreign oil, encouraging domestic clean energy technologies that will lead the
way in the 21st century global marketplace, and significantly reducing the
global warming pollution that imperils our planet and will harm our economy.
Fick said the proposal represents an important step forward in addressing the
grim impacts of a changing climate, but she cautioned that to secure these
critical benefits, the final standards must be rigorous and well designed by:
-- Accounting for Societal Benefits of Protective Action: To maximize
benefits, it is essential to fully account for extraordinary and
far-reaching protections that result from reducing emissions. The full
range of environmental, social, and economic impacts of emissions
should
be factored in when calculating carbon's societal costs and
co-benefits
of the proposed standards - such as health benefits from reductions in
smog-forming air pollutants - must be incorporated in economic
analysis,
which must also account for catastrophic impacts. The final rule must
reflect this through appropriate economic assumptions and use of
ethical
considerations beyond the scope of economic analysis alone.
-- Ensuring Fleet Mix Assumptions. Reductions to be realized by these
standards are dependent on assumptions about fleet composition in
model
years 2012-2016. EDF urges federal policymakers to find ways to
ensure
fleet mix assumptions reflect real-world fleet composition.
-- Preparing for model year 2017 and beyond. The standards apply to model
years 2012 through 2016. EDF urges the EPA to begin work as soon as
possible to prepare standards for model year 2017 and beyond.
Information about the clean car standards rulemaking can be found at:
www.epa.gov/otaq/climate/regulations.htm.
Environmental Defense Fund, a leading national nonprofit organization,
represents more than 700,000 members. Since 1967, Environmental Defense Fund
has linked science, economics, law and innovative private-sector partnerships
to create breakthrough solutions to the most serious environmental problems.
For more information, visit www.edf.org.
SOURCE Environmental Defense Fund
Lori Sinsley, California Media Director, +1-415-293-6097, lsinsley@edf.org, or
Erica Fick, Clean Energy Fellow, +1-213-435-7160, efick@edf.org, both of EDF
