Oregon adopts California auto emission standards

PORTLAND – The Oregon Environmental Quality Commission voted unanimously Thursday to temporarily adopt tough new rules on car and truck emissions that will extend California standards to the entire Pacific Coast from Mexico to Canada.

Gov. Ted Kulongoski had recommended the stricter California standards for cars and light trucks beginning with the 2009 model year to help reduce pollution blamed for global warming.

The Washington Legislature has already approved the stricter standards, but they will not go into effect unless Oregon agrees to them as well.

“The threat of global warming is real. It’s fact, not just idle speculation,” Kulongoski told the commission before the vote.

The federal Clean Air Act allows only California to set tougher emission standards than federal law, but other states are free to adopt California standards.

The five Oregon commissioners said adoption of temporary regulations based on the California standard puts automobile manufacturers on notice that the West Coast is concerned about the economic threat of climate change.

“Without it, we’ll be behind the eight ball, so to speak,” said Judy Uherbelau, a commissioner.

The commission now has 180 days to go through the formal process to permanently adopt the California standards.

Commission Chairman Mark Reeve said states have taken the initiative because the federal government has been slow to respond to concerns about global warming.

“The most significant thing we could do is adopt rules like this … if the federal government is not taking a leadership role,” Reeve said.

“It’s the first step in taking societal responsibility for what we are doing” to the environment, Reeve said. “I hope that by sending a signal of that willingness to take responsibility, others will come to the table.”

Oregon is the 11th state to adopt the stricter standards.

Opponents went to court last month in Oregon to challenge the request, but Marion County Circuit Judge Mary James is not expected to rule until mid-January on the lawsuit filed by Republican Senate Leader Ted Ferrioli, the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers and more than a dozen car dealers.

They claim the Democratic governor ignored the wishes of the Legislature by asking the state Department of Environmental Quality to work on adopting the California standards by the end of the year.

But the Oregon attorney general’s office says Kulongoski acted within his authority.

Automobile industry officials say the California standards could add as much as $3,000 to the cost of a new vehicle without making them much cleaner.

“And that’s based on projections for technologies that don’t even exist,” said Paul Cosgrove, spokesman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers.

But Dave Nordberg, air quality planner for the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, said California officials have estimated the additional cost at only about $1,000 per vehicle.

Nordberg also noted the estimated fuel savings for car owners at $3 per gallon of gas ranges from $20 to $25 per month under the new standards.

He emphasized the Oregon adoption of the California regulations will allow the auto industry to plan manufacturing changes based on a uniform standard.

“California will do the heavy lifting with the manufacturers,” Nordberg told commissioners.

Cosgrove, the industry spokesman, said the new standards will damage the regional economy and limit consumer choices.

Kulongoski, however, told the commission it will boost the economy by reducing health care costs from pollution and make Oregon more attractive to companies seeking a clean environment.

He noted that economists have warned that global warming also poses a serious threat to the Northwest economy by affecting the climate and possibly reducing the snowpack that feeds the rivers which farmers rely on during the region’s dry summer months.

Global warming also will affect other industries, including tourism and the ski areas, Kulongoski said.

He said the tougher regulations will make the entire West Coast a clean air corridor from Canada to Mexico after the Washington Legislature passed its similar measure last May.

“It puts Oregon among a handful of states really showing leadership in reducing global warming,” said Jeremiah Baumann, spokesman for the Oregon State Public Interest Research Group.