Financial bailout of the American auto industry, greater MPG and higher emissions standards
Tuesday, November 11th, 2008
I recently received a press release from the Civil Society Institute (CSI) stating that they are urging Congress to mandate any Detroit automaker loan guarantee bailout be conditional on the auto industry dropping ongoing litigation against four states requiring stronger emissions standards.
40MPG.org and TheCLEAN.org are both organizations under CSI who lobby against global warming by encouraging cleaner emissions standards. The states with legislation that the auto industry is battling are California, Vermont, Rhode Island and New Mexico.
Pam Solo, 40MPG.org founder and CSI president says, “Just because Detroit is pleading once again for another bailout is no reason for Washington to give these companies a ‘free ride.’ If taxpayers are going to be put at risk by guaranteeing new loans, then any such new help should be conditioned on the U.S. car companies ending their campaign to frustrate state-level efforts to clean up car and light-truck emissions that cause global warming. Further, Congress should insist that every penny of the $25 billion in new loan guarantees that Detroit is seeking be targeted to building the cars of tomorrow, not the gas-guzzling dinosaurs of yesterday. Business as usual for Detroit is a bad investment without the incentives for Detroit to do what it seems it cannot do for itself.”
According to CSI, since the election, President-elect Obama plans to move swiftly to overturn a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) denial of a waiver being sought by California that would allow the state to move ahead with its tougher vehicle emission standards.
A total of 15 states have adopted regulations requiring automobile manufacturers to reduce significantly the greenhouse gas emissions of their cars and light trucks. Under the uniform set of regulations adopted by these states, automobile manufacturers must reduce new vehicle greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent over 2002 levels. The reductions are phased in on model years 2009 through 2016.
The U.S. automobile industry has been waging a four-year legal battle against state emission standards. They prevailed upon the Bush EPA to deny California a Clean Air Act waiver in a decision that was contradicted by the analysis of EPA’s own staff. CSI says this denial will be reversed one way or another: California has sued EPA to obtain the waiver and, like other states, is faring well in court. President-Elect Obama also has promised to reverse the EPA waiver denial according to CSI.
My question for readers is, “Is this the time to put conditions on automakers to save their companies?” When one of our largest industries in the nation is over a barrel, do we stipulate any financial help they may get based major shifts in the products they produce just to accommodate a few states regulations? On the other side, are the current emission standards detrimental to our long term nation’s health and this is the perfect time for change? What would happen if the auto industry stood up to this type of regulation and said, ‘Hey, if you don’t want to drive our cars and trucks then we wont sell them in your state.” How do you think consumers would feel if they couldn’t buy a Ford 150, Dodge RAM or Chevy Silverado.