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Car Industry Challenges California Law |
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By Katherine Stapp*
In
10 years, all new cars in California must emit at least 30 percent
less carbon dioxide, says the first law of its kind in the world.
But car manufacturers have filed a lawsuit to halt the legislation.
Ford, General Motors and Chrysler ''are at the bottom of the heap
when it comes to addressing greenhouse gas emissions,'' Jason Mark,
of the Union of Concerned Scientists, told Tierramérica.
NEW YORK - A battle between car manufacturers
and the government of the U.S. state of California, which is trying
to sharply cut global warming emissions from vehicles, could have
national and even international repercussions, activists say.
The U.S. transportation system alone gives off more carbon dioxide,
the primary greenhouse gas blamed for climate change, than any other
national economy, except China, according to the Pew Center on Global
Climate Change, based in the eastern state of Virginia.
With the George W. Bush administration contesting the scientific
consensus on global warming, many U.S. states are pursuing their
own strategies to clear the skies.
And few have been more aggressive than the western state of California,
which adopted a law last September that is the first in the world
to require limits on so-called greenhouse gas emissions from passenger
vehicles.
The new rules give car companies a decade to achieve a 30 percent
reduction in CO2 emissions in all new vehicles sold in the state.
California wields considerable power over the automotive industry
because its residents buy more than 1.5 million new vehicles a year,
about a tenth of the national market. It has also historically played
the role of an environmental leader, a model other states follow
when writing their own emissions laws.
So far, clean car bills similar to California's have passed in seven
northeastern states: New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island,
Massachusetts, Maine and Vermont.
As expected, the California law is being challenged in court by
the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers (AAM) and the Association
of International Automobile Manufacturers, which together represent
the world's major auto companies.
Most carmakers recognize that air pollution and global warming is
a problem, but they argue that the California standard is unrealistic
and would end up costing consumers thousands of dollars in higher
vehicle prices.
They also say that California has exceeded its authority in trying
to set a uniform fuel economy standard, which is the purview of
the federal government.
The Kyoto Protocol on climate change --in force as of Feb. 16 --
requires 35 industrialized nations to reduce their greenhouse gas
emissions by an average of five percent from 1990 levels by 2012.
But the United States is not held to the terms of the treaty. President
George W. Bush withdrew the U.S. signature saying the Protocol would
be too expensive to implement and would cost tens of thousands of
U.S. jobs.
''The White House has offered up virtually nothing in reducing global
emissions from cars,'' said Jason Mark, clean vehicles program director
at the Union of Concerned Scientists, a Massachusetts-based environmental
advocacy group.
And the ''Big Three'' carmakers in Detroit -- Ford, General Motors
and Chrysler -- are ''at the bottom of the heap when it comes to
addressing greenhouse gas emissions,'' he said.
These gases, including carbon dioxide and methane, are released
mainly from the combustion of fossil fuels like petroleum, natural
gas and coal.
The car manufactures ''have a very short-term investment strategy
that hasn't proven to be a prudent business model. Japan has been
winning over market share for decades,'' Mark told Tierramérica.
''Ultimately at stake in this lawsuit is transforming the auto industry
in the United States.''
The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) says technology exists today
to cut emissions by 20 percent in all new vehicles sold in California,
using improvements in air conditioning systems, engines, and transmissions,
as well as reductions in vehicle loads.
And, according to the group, new technologies still on the horizon
could help reduce emissions a total of 40 percent over the next
five years.
AAM spokeswoman Gloria Bergquist said, ''The auto industry already
spends billions developing advanced technology vehicles. We have
more than 30 models that are on sale or in development.''
It would take up to 16 years for buyers of the cleaner vehicles
to recoup in fuel savings the higher price tag of those cars (between
1,000 to 3,000 dollars).
''Even if there's a payback down the road, consumers are reluctant
to take on the added cost,'' she said.
The new legislation was received with some skepticism by Japanese
carmaker Toyota, which has sold 100,000 hybrid cars in the United
States since 2000, and is part of the California Fuel Cell Partnership,
a collaboration of auto manufacturers, energy companies, fuel cell
companies, and government agencies working to advance cleaner vehicle
technology.
''We're sympathetic to the goals of the legislation, but we think
it's not workable,'' Cindy Knight, a Toyota spokeswoman, told Tierramérica.
She said the company considers global warming ''a serious issue,
and all Toyota affiliates worldwide ''have to formulate five-year
action plans on a number of environmental issues, including carbon
dioxide emissions.''
The automotive industry has an ally in President Bush, who has opposed
moves in the U.S. Congress to cap carbon emissions and improve vehicle
fuel efficiency -- even though the country is at a 24-year low for
average fuel economy.
However, a poll taken after the November 2004 elections and released
by the Natural Resources Defense Council found strong public support
for cleaner car regulations, with 73 percent of respondents expressing
support for California's emissions law.
Hybrid electric-gasoline vehicles, which get better gas mileage
with less tailpipe pollution, also appear to be slowly catching
on amongst the wider public, especially with oil prices hitting
record highs.
The federal government currently offers a tax incentive of up to
2,000 dollars for consumers who choose a hybrid, but that will be
cut to 500 dollars next year and eliminated altogether in 2007.
Some Asian carmakers, which have been in the vanguard of industry
efforts to improve its ''green'' profile, have announced plans to
increase energy efficiency in factories and expand production of
eco-friendly vehicles.
Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's biggest automaker, said Monday
that it had launched a task force to ''systematically'' comply with
the Kyoto Protocol.
Next year, Toyota plans to unveil two hybrid sports utility vehicles
-- a highly popular model in the United States -- and pledges to
cut carbon emissions by 10 percent from 1990 levels by 2010.
''The Japanese companies are run by engineers, but the U.S. companies
are run by accountants,'' said UCS activist Mark. ''And we've seen
dramatically different results.''
Ford Motor did not have anyone available to respond to Tierramérica's
questions.
* Katherine Stapp is the IPS regional editor
for North America and the Caribbean.
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