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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Bills seek stricter emission standards


Traffic moves along northbound Interstate 5 through Seattle, in this file photo. Proposals in the Washington House and Senate call for the state to join California and several other states in stricter emission standards on cars, starting in 2009. 
 (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Associated Press

OLYMPIA – For drivers who love the environment and their sport utility vehicles equally, a salve to conflicted consciences may be a bill away.

Proposals in the House and Senate call for Washington to join California and several other states in stricter emission standards on cars, starting in 2009. The onus would be on auto manufacturers to produce the cars, not on individual car owners to bring their current vehicles up to snuff. All new cars and light trucks in the state would need to comply with the standards by 2016.

A public hearing on the clean car proposal is scheduled for Wednesday before the Senate Water, Energy and Environment Committee, and another is scheduled for Feb. 17 before the House transportation committee.

House Bill 1397 and Senate Bill 5397 would follow California’s policy, which is more stringent than the 1990 federal emissions standards. New cars would have to emit 30 percent less carbon dioxide, 20 percent fewer toxic pollutants and up to 20 percent fewer smog-causing pollutants than the established federal standards.

Clean car proponents argue while buyers may pay $7 a month more in car payments in 2012, they’ll see monthly fuel savings of $18.

“It’s a great deal,” said Lisa Andrews, a spokeswoman with Climate Solutions, a supporter of the bill. “These cars save people more money on fuel savings then they cost for the additional pollution control.”

But Eron Shosteck, a spokesman for the Washington, D.C.-based Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, said proponents’ math is wrong.

“With all due respect, those calculations are not made by auto engineers,” Shosteck said. “This could cost Washington consumers thousands of dollars every time they go to buy a new vehicle.”

Shosteck also argued that lower-income people may not be able to buy the new cars, further contributing to pollution by keeping an older car that produces higher emissions.

Shosteck’s organization sued California in December over its emissions law. Shosteck would not comment on that litigation, and would not comment on whether Washington state would face a lawsuit if the law passed here.

“The auto manufacturers will talk about the boogeyman under the bed if you pass this law,” said Clifford Traisman, the main lobbyist for environmental groups at the state Capitol. “What the electorate and what the Legislature understand by and large is that a strong environmental policy is a strong economic policy in a state like Washington state.”

The states that have adopted California’s more stringent clean car standards are Massachusetts, New York, Maine, Vermont, Rhode Island and Connecticut. New Jersey is in the process of adopting the standards.

In Oregon, a citizens advisory group recommended in December that Gov. Ted Kulongoski create a task force to move toward implementing the California standards.

David Van’t Hof, an adviser to Kulongoski, said the governor was in the process of reviewing the group’s recommendation.

Traisman said that due to Democratic control in both the House and Senate, as well as the fact that 10 Republicans in the House and Senate have signed on in support, he’s confident it will pass.

In December, former Gov. Gary Locke and legislative Democrats proposed that the state adopt the standards. He also announced a freeze on state government purchase of four-wheel drive sport utility vehicles and the state motor pool has begun shifting to hybrid vehicles, which run on electricity and gasoline.

The new standards would require automakers to use better air conditioners and more efficient transmissions and engines.

“It makes sense to ask automobiles to create less emissions,” Andrews said. “We’re just asking auto makers to deliver their best cars to Washington state. It’s technology that’s already on the road. It’s common sense stuff.”

Hybrid autos, such as the Honda Insight and the Toyota Prius, and other super-efficient vehicles would be exempt from emission inspections required every two years in Clark, King, Pierce, Snohomish and Spokane counties.

Shosteck said the proposal is unnecessary “because autos today are 99 percent cleaner than they were in the 1970s and this legislation would have no impact on air quality above and beyond federal standards.”

Sen. Adam Kline, D-Seattle, one of the supporters who has signed on to the bill, dove into the clean car movement early with a car that averages about 52 miles per gallon in city driving. His silver Prius proudly sports two bumper stickers: “Driving a gas guzzler is unpatriotic” and “Support OPEC. Drive an SUV.”

“It isn’t the size, it’s the guzzling nature of the engine that bothers me,” he said. “If a car can get as good of mileage as mine but is bigger, more power to them.”