Obama directs U.S. regulators to tighten auto rules

By John M. Broder
Published: January 27, 2009

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama directed U.S. regulators on Monday to move swiftly on an application by California and 13 other states to set strict limits on greenhouse gases from cars and trucks. He also ordered the Transportation Department to begin drawing up rules imposing higher fuel-economy standards on cars and light trucks.
The directives make good on an Obama campaign pledge and signal a sharp reversal of Bush administration policy. Moving quickly on tailpipe emissions and on mileage rules are emphatic actions Obama could take to quickly put his stamp on environmental policy.
Obama announced the actions in the East Room of the White House, saying that his orders were intended "to ensure that the fuel-efficient cars of tomorrow are built right here in America."
Obama directed the Environmental Protection Agency to reconsider the Bush administration's past rejection of the California application. While he stopped short of flatly ordering the reversal of the Bush decision, the agency's regulators are now widely expected to do so after completing a formal review process.
The president also directed the Transportation Department to draw up rules to implement a 2007 law requiring a 40 percent improvement in gas mileage for autos and light trucks by 2020. The Bush administration failed to write any regulations to enforce the new law.

Once the agencies act, automobile manufacturers will quickly have to retool to begin producing and selling cars and trucks that are cleaner and get better gas mileage on an accelerated schedule. The auto companies have lobbied hard against the regulations and have challenged them in court.
Ray LaHood, the new Secretary of Transportation, was present for this morning's announcement and afterwards dismissed the auto makers' complaints.
"They knew this was coming," said LaHood, a former Republican congressman from Illinois.
The announcement added to the impression Obama is creating of a sharp break from the Bush era on all fronts, following his decisions last week to close the detention facility at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba; to tighten limits on interrogation tactics by Central Intelligence Agency officers; to order plans to withdraw combat forces from Iraq; and to reverse President George W. Bush's financing restrictions on groups that promote or provide abortion overseas, administration officials said.
To avoid losing another year on emissions and fuel efficiency, Obama will order temporary regulations to be completed by March so that automakers will have enough time to retool for vehicles to be sold in 2011. Final standards for later years will be determined by a separate process that, under Obama's order, must take into consideration legal, scientific and technological factors.
He also ordered U.S. government departments and agencies to find new ways to save energy and be more environmentally friendly. And he highlighted the elements in his $825 billion economic stimulus plan intended to create jobs around renewable energy.
The announcements began a week of efforts to get the stimulus plan through Congress. The White House hopes the Senate will confirm Timothy Geithner as Treasury secretary on Monday, and Obama plans to travel to Capitol Hill on Tuesday to meet with Senate and House Republican caucuses and to lobby for his stimulus package. Obama's aides expect the House to vote on its plan on Wednesday.
But the centerpiece of Monday's announcement was Obama's directive to the Environmental Protection Agency to begin work immediately on granting California a waiver under the Clean Air Act to allow the state, a longtime leader in air quality matters, to set standards for automobile emissions that are stricter than the national rules.
California has already won numerous waivers for controls on emissions that cause smog, as opposed to global warming.
Obama said his administration would take into account the financial troubles of the auto industry, which have already received billions of dollars in U.S. government aid and are seeking more.
"Our goal is not to further burden the struggling American auto industry," he said, but rather to make a major step toward addressing global warming by cleaning up the American transportation fleet.