Feds allow New Mexico and 13 other states to reduce vehicle greenhouse gas emissions

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency granted a waiver on Tuesday that allows California and 13 other states, including New Mexico, to create regulations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in new automobiles, according the governor’s office late Tuesday afternoon.
Gov. Bill Richardson immediately lauded the development.
“This decision gives us the best of both worlds – it validates the leadership of states like New Mexico that have adopted clean vehicle emission standards while demonstrating strong federal leadership to address transportation-related climate pollution in the future,” the governor said in a news release issued by his office.
The federal government’s reversal is a 180-degree turn away from a Bush administration decision to not let states adopt stiffer vehicle emissions standards than the federal government.
New Mexico has been involved in the fight to regulate vehicle emissions for the past year and a half.
The Land of Enchantment in late 2007 adopted the so-called California clean car emissions standards, meaning that it would impose stricter emission standards than the federal government’s on vehicles sold in New Mexico. A month later, however, in December 2007, the then-EPA administrator denied California the waiver to institute the tougher emission standards. No waiver for California getting meant the other states, including New Mexico, couldn’t adopt the tougher standards either.
New Mexico and other states then sued EPA over the denial.
But President Obama asked EPA to reconsider this decision earlier this year.
Transportation is the fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions in New Mexico, the state has said in the past. The tougher vehicle emission standards would apply to model year 2011 vehicles and beyond.
“By adopting and defending these standards, states like New Mexico have effected federal action on climate change,” New Mexico’s Environment Department Secretary Ron Curry said in the news release issued by the governor’s office. “The greenhouse gas vehicle standard started in the states and is now becoming a national program. I think we will see a similar trend with the passage of an economy-wide greenhouse gas reduction bill in Congress.”