Eugene, Oregon -- In a critical step to combat global warming, the U.S. EPA today granted to California a long-delayed waiver for California's greenhouse gas reduction law for new vehicles.  Today’s action reverses President Bush’s denials of the waiver request in 2007 and 2008. 

The new waiver decision pursuant to Sec. 209 of the federal Clean Air Act means that California is able to enforce its own regulations to restrict greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from news cars and light trucks.  It also means that, pursuant to Sec. 177 of the Clean Air Act, other states can enforce their own rules if identical in substance to California’s tailpipe emission restrictions.   States with such tailpipe GHG restrictions include Washington, Oregon, Arizona, New Mexico, Maine, Vermont, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, and Maryland.  Such standards have also been adopted by the District of Columbia.  Florida, Colorado, Utah, and Montana are poised to adopt the same standards.

Attorneys General from California, 13 other states, and several environmental organizations, have worked together for over two years to secure this victory.  Western Environmental Law Center attorney’s Dan Galpern and Matt Kenna represented Friends of the Earth, Center for Biological Diversity, Washington Environmental Council, Environment Washington, 3E Strategies, Oregon Environmental Council, Oregon Wild, and Angus Duncan in litigation over this matter in three federal courts.