Colorado Capitol. Photo by Cpt. Spock. Licensed under Creative Commons license 2.0.

We know that 18 states are getting serious with legal action against the EPA on a national level, but local emissions fights in state legislatures also bear watching. Harry Stoffer, writing in Automotive News, describes how a "top industry lobbyist" and president of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, Dave McCurdy, is going around to statehouses to work against state-based CO₂ rules. In three states - Minnesota, Colorado and Montana - McCurdy's efforts seem to be paying off; those states are retreating from efforts to implement stricter emissions laws. It's no secret that the automakers are against a patchwork of state laws that - gasp - might result in a cleaner environment but would put pressure on automakers to make vehicles that are even cleaner than federal law requires. McCurdy issued a statement against the ruling of a Federal Judge in favor of states regulating greenhouse gases, for example. Still, the next time we talk to Charles Territo or someone else in the Alliance, we'll be sure to ask about all this.

[Source: Harry Stoffer / Automotive News]

Photo by kadavy. Licensed under Creative Commons license 2.0.

Europeans don't monkey around when it comes to cigarette warning labels. Large print, simple messages, and impossible to avoid. Apparently, vehicle advertisements need to be a little more clear about the dangers the vehicle poses to the pocketbook and the environment.

Car ads that references a specific make and model, according to EU directive 1999/94/EC, which passed in December 1999, need to reveal fuel use and CO₂ emissions in way that is easy to read and prominent and "be easy to understand even on superficial contact." While some car advertisements in the EU and UK have come under fire for being misleading (see examples by Toyota and Lexus and Hummer), a researcher at a Belgian university found that almost every single car ad (99 percent) in the EU is illegal.

Examples of what car ads should look like and ways to voice your concern are available at this site, which was set up by ten environmental and greener car groups, including Greenpeace and the Alliance Against Urban 4x4s (4x4 is the British way of saying SUV).

[Source: The Economist, h/t to Jeroen V.]

Following the U.S. Supreme Court decision last year that the EPA had jurisdiction to regulate emissions of carbon dioxide, the agency began formulating regulations. By December of 2007, they had a proposal ready to go that would have effectively mandated a 35mpg standard by 2018. That would have put it two years ahead of what was ultimately passed in the energy bill. In January of this year EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson told a Senate committee that the agency would release CO₂ standards by March. As you might have guessed, no such thing has happened.

In fact, during hearings before the House Oversight Committee this week, Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) revealed that work on the CO₂ rules ended last December. While the committee investigated the EPA decision to deny California's request for a waiver allowing them to regulate CO₂ emissions, they were told that the work stopped as a result of pressure from the Bush Administration. Waxman has requested a copy of the draft rules which were submitted to the White House, but the EPA hasn't yet decided whether to comply. The decision not to proceed may have been triggered by some legal language from Administrator Johnson. The draft regulation was accompanied by a legal finding that carbon emissions endangered public welfare rather than public health. Without the latter finding there was less of a requirement for new regulations under the current law.

[Source: Detroit News]

Automotive News Europe columnist Tony Lewin (subs req'd) has got a message for the European automakers in the wake of new CO₂ laws: stop whining. He didn't say that in so many words (he said that the automakers are letting out "anguished squeals" and "you would have thought that they were told that starting in 2012 all cars had to have square wheels and run on recycled orange juice"), but that's his message. We've already seen VW express unhappiness over the fines that will kick in in 2012. Lewin says the reason these cries should be halted is that the new 130 grams of CO₂ per kilometer average from automakers that will now be required "was first discussed in 1994." 13 years later, and what have the automakers done? Some improvements, sure, but not enough. And it's not like the European government is springing this regulation on the automakers out of nowhere. Check out the rest of Lewin's argument (if you have a subscription to AN).

What gets me is that we see, pretty much on a daily basis, some automaker or another telling us how amazing their new low-CO₂ car is. I mean, just look at the offerings from Peugeot or Renault. I know the sub-120 grams of CO₂ per kilometer cars these companies (and others) are often just concepts, but not always. And anyway, five year is enough time to bring them to market. If the automakers say it's not, then they can step aside for companies that can do it.

[Source: Automotive News Europe]