'Clean Cars Program' will help to reduce Tennessee's contribution to toxic air pollution

'Clean Cars Program' will help to reduce Tennessee's contribution to toxic air pollution

BY COLIN HAGAN • SEPTEMBER 7, 2008

Tennessee Voices

As Americans, we can reduce our cars' toll on polluted air, but we need effective emission standards to pave the way to a clean energy future.

In order to reduce pollution, states need the ability to provide dependable standards for car emissions. And with America's automobiles responsible for one-third of the country's global warming pollution, reducing car emissions provides an important opportunity to address this monumental issue.

In 2007, the Supreme Court confirmed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's authority to regulate carbon dioxide, the primary contributor to global warming. So far, the EPA has failed to take action to limit tailpipe carbon dioxide emissions from our nation's 250 million automobiles, but states are stepping in to fill that void.

Without an adequate national standard for reducing our automobiles' global warming pollution, states are seeking to enact their own solutions. California, and more than a dozen other states, have adopted automobile standards to reduce air pollution beyond federal government requirements. California led the way with a "Clean Cars Program" to reduce smog-forming and toxic air pollution, promote advanced-technology vehicles, and reduce the average vehicle's global warming pollution by 34 percent. Several states are following suit, but they need permission from the EPA in order to hold automakers and fuel providers to standards higher than those set by the federal government.

The tailpipe is just one place where we can reduce the global warming pollution our automobiles produce. We can also decrease pollution at the gas pump by filling our gas tanks with fuels that require less global warming pollution to produce and combust. According to the EPA, each gallon of gasoline produces 20 pounds of carbon dioxide, and the Department of Energy estimates that our nation consumes 390 million gallons of gasoline every day. This problem presents a unique opportunity.

Reducing the carbon content of the fuels we use involves accounting for all of the pollution generated in producing the fuel, from "well to wheels." In 2007, Gov. Schwarzenegger led California to establish a low carbon fuel standard (LCFS), requiring fuel producers to reduce the "lifecycle" global warming pollution of commercial fuel blends. California's LCFS uses market-based mechanisms to provide flexibility in how producers comply. By 2020, fuel sold in California will generate 10 percent less global warming pollution than conventional petroleum.

Effective action is needed to address the threats that air pollution and climate change pose to our communities. States that choose to enact emission standards that meet federal requirements, but go beyond minimum expectations, are taking responsibility for cleaning our air and reducing global warming pollution. Along with a national standard, states should also be able to exceed federal requirements. A national standard should simply act as a minimum threshold, but it should be one that reduces tailpipe and fuel-related global warming pollution. Let's make that standard so successful that states have an opportunity to search out alternative ways to reduce global warming.

Tennessee can join in the state-based effort to lead the nation in reducing automobile pollution by adopting the "Clean Cars Program" and a low carbon fuel standard.

Colin Hagan is a graduate of Furman University and serves as the federal policy associate with the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.