Word: californiaisms
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President Barack Obama made the first big green move of his Administration by simply getting out of the way. Speaking from the White House, the President on Monday announced that he was directing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reconsider an application by California and 13 other states to set stricter limits on greenhouse-gas emissions from cars and trucks, opening the way for tighter fuel efficiency standards nationwide. Obama is also directing the Department of Transportation to issue guidelines that will ensure the U.S. auto fleet reaches an average fuel economy of 35 miles per gallon (m.p.g...
...environmentalists, who cheered Obama's new policies even before they were official, the White House's reversal on the California waiver request was particularly sweet. In 2002 California passed regulations that would require automobile manufacturers to cut greenhouse-gas emissions from their vehicles by nearly a third between 2009 and 2016 - effectively resulting in a fuel economy standard of 36 m.p.g. That would have been a significantly tougher standard than the federal rules (the 2007 Energy Act did require corporate average fuel economy [CAFE] to approach that figure, but not until 2020). California requested a waiver for its own tough...
...emissions, it would actively prevent states - even ones with Republican governors - from taking steps on their own. Now, with Obama directing his EPA to reconsider the waiver - and new EPA head Lisa Jackson has said that she would "very, very aggressively" review the request - the door is open to California once again taking the lead on cleaner cars. "It's a tremendously important step because we are in an urgent race against the climate crisis," says Vickie Patton, a senior attorney for the Environmental Defense Fund...
...more ambitious fuel economy standards, if adopted, will force the auto industry to rapidly retool to produce more efficient cars and trucks. Auto manufacturers have fought California's rules in court, arguing that allowing the state to go forward on its own would create a patchwork of regulations that would burden an already struggling industry. But in the past, the Federal Government has often followed California's lead, meaning the feared patchwork could soon become the national standard. Greens expect the Obama Administration to push the country in that direction. (As a Senator, Obama called for fuel economy to rise...
...what about California's Proposition 8? Many people have worried that its passage means the culture wars are still here to stay...