President Barack Obama may be in favor of change -- but apparently not when it comes to the climate. Less than a week into his presidency, Team Obama will reverse a controversial, Dick Cheney-fueled decision of the Bush White House and allow states to curb greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles:
WASHINGTON — President Obama on Monday will direct federal regulators to move swiftly to grant California and 13 other states the right to set strict automobile emissions and fuel efficiency standards, two administration officials said Sunday evening.
The directive makes good on an Obama campaign pledge and marks a sharp reversal from Bush administration policy. Granting California and the other states the right to regulate tailpipe emissions is one of the most dramatic actions Mr. Obama can take to quickly put his stamp on environmental policy.
The presidential orders will require automobile manufacturers to begin producing and selling cars and trucks that get higher mileage than the national standard, and on a faster phase-in schedule. The auto companies had lobbied hard against the regulations and challenged them in court.
Although it's not spelled out in the Times article posted tonight, one of those states is Pennsylvania. The Rendell administration adopted stricted standards in late 2006, only to see them thwarted along with California's by the federal government. According to the original Pennsylvania announcement:
Pennsylvania’s clean vehicles program locks in model year 2008 as the compliance date for new emission standards for new passenger cars and light-duty trucks in the commonwealth. The program also requires automakers to make their overall fleet cleaner than would be required by the federal government. Sticker prices of the cleaner vehicles are identical to the “dirtier” versions.
I'm sure opponents will take either two routes, which is to say 1) These laws were enacted before the Great Recession changed everything, but that ignores the evidence that cleaner cars will actually be good for the economy on a number of levels or 2) "Ha, ha -- global warming? It's 20 degrees out!," which is too ridiculous to even dignify with a response. This was a change that Obama promised, and for the American majority that wants to see action on climate change, it's a breath of fresh air.
Comment removed.- Comment removed.
Will 20 degrees has nothing to do with it...but more and more scientists are coming out saying GW is a money making scam...why do you continually ignore these scientists and only cover the ones on the Democrat payroll?— TR- " "Ha, ha -- global warming? It's 20 degrees out!," which is too ridiculous to even dignify with a response. " can you be any more pompous and elite? one would think that the outside temperature might be a good indicator of global warming. im surprised you dont cry wolf about the oxygen crisis, since its a poisonous gas that we release into the air, but i digress, since liberals know everything and want to teach us how to live their way and that way only.— TR
- Comment removed.
- Comment removed.
I regret to report that although it is still cold here and I am beginning to think I will not see my lawn here in upstate NY until March, in Antarctica another giant part of the ice shelf just melted enough to break loose and in Lima, Peru, the melting of the mountain glaciers is going to deprive that huge city of its only water supplies; now as I have often noted, no responsible scientist doubts that this global warming is caused by the increase of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere; furthermore, we know where most of those increasing greenhouse gases come from because we are producing them right and left from burning fossil fuels. It is apparent that batboy, swiftie, and TR have had their minds clouded by some antiscience Shadow, causing obvious evidence to become invisible.- 1. Were these new Auto regulations passed by the General Assembly or were they enacted by an act of Fast Eddie? It would seem to me that the Gov shouldn't be able to just wave his hand on this one. 2. Is it simply hoping that the cleaner cars should cost the same or is it required by regulation. I am all for cleaner cars, but I am also for the market dictating it. I'm sure that if one car company offered cleaner cars, Pennsyvanians would buy them, even if they cost more. The arrogance of the political class has no bounds these days.— dr. know
- Comment removed.
- Hopefully this means every vehicle in the state will be subject to emission inspections. Its a sham that that half the state is not required to have an emissions sticker— BHite15
- We'll see what the "American majority that wants to see action on climate change" has to say when it starts costing them thousands more to buy a car, right in the middle of a recession - and wow, won't that help the auto industry. And this "American majority" probably comes from a rigged poll from the NY Times, CBS, or some other Democrat front organization.— Ghost of 0bamaRemorse
- Comment removed.
- JimboMagoo, the Bush Administration did torture nature with a single-minded ferocity for the last eight years. Placing their actions in the best light, they might have been motivated primarily by oil-man greed rather than pure death instinct.— person
- Good luck to the people that own older trucks and cars, when it cost you 800 bucks to get it through emissions inspection.
- Comment removed.
Will Bunch, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News, blogs about his obsessions, including national and local politics and world affairs, the media, pop music, the Philadelphia Phillies, soccer and other sports, not necessarily in that order.
E-mail Will by clicking here.
PLEASE COMMENT WITH PASSION...
...but not with racial slurs, potentially libelous allegations, obscenities or other juvenile noise. Such comments will, at our discretion, be deleted in their entirety, and repeat offenders will be blocked from commenting. ALSO: Any commenter advocating killing any government official will be immediately banned.
Thanks.
- Atrios
- Kiko's House
- Suburban Guerilla
- Booman Tribune
- All-Spin Zone
- Philly (Dragonballyee)
- Afro-Netizen
- Rowhouse Logic
- MyDD
- Bad Attitudes
- Billmon
- iFlipFlop
- CorrenteWire
- upyernoz
- Tattered Coat
- Fables of the Reconstruction
- Slacktivist
- Citizen Mom
- The Next Mayor
- Philly Future
- Philadelphia Will Do
- Philebrity
- Young Philly Politics
- Phillyblog
- Welcome to Phillyville
- Phawker
- A List of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago
- Keystone Blog
- Philadelphia - America's Hometown
- BlankBaby
- Above Average Jane
- Phillyist
- Metroblogging Philadelphia
- The Clog
- Josh Marshall
- Daily Kos
- Juan Cole
- Oliver Willis
- Andy Borowitz
- War and Piece
- Wonkette
- BuzzFlash
- Raw Story
- Cursor
- Crooks and Liars
- Swing State Project
- Kevin Drum
- Talk Left
- AmericaBlog
- Hullabaloo
- Mad Kane
- Think Progress
- Jesus' General
- The Carpetbagger Report
- Majikthise
- Echidne of the Snakes
- David Sirota
- Glenn Greenwald
- TBogg
- Fire Dog Lake
- Taylor Marsh
- Matthew Yglesias
- Jon Swift
- Drudge Report
- Beer Leaguer
- The 700 Level
- Dick Polman
- Balls, Sticks and Stuff
- Shallow Center
- Philling Station
- Phillies Nation
- A Citizen's Blog
- The Good Phight
- Romenesko
- Editor and Publisher
- Pressthink
- Buzzmachine
- The Inksniffer
- Media Bloodhound
- Eat the Press
- Mickey Kaus
- Media (Huffington Post)
- Blinq
- The Corner
- Instapundit
- Andrew Sullivan
- Free Republic
- James Taranto
- Blonde Sagacity
- ScrappleFace
- Blogorrhea
- May
- April
- March
- February
- January
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- January 2008
- News | Sports | Business | What's Happening | Restaurants & Food | Entertainment | Living | Marketplace | Jobs
