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California takes another step in the effort to reduce greenhouse
gas emissions. Release 10-20
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 25, 2010 	
	
	
Stanley Young
916-322-1309 desk
916-956-9409 cell
www.arb.ca.gov

California completes its commitment to a national greenhouse gas
standard for cars

Regulation is final step in agreement announced in Rose Garden
last year

SACRAMENTO--California today fulfilled its commitment to
establish the nation’s first ever greenhouse gas standard for
passenger vehicles by allowing federal greenhouse gas standards
to fully comply with California’s standards for model years 2012
to 2016.

The Board’s action is the third and final step California
committed to as part of an agreement with automobile
manufacturers and two federal agencies announced last May by
President Obama in the Rose Garden to establish the pioneering
national greenhouse gas standard .

"California continues to lead the nation and the world in
protecting the environment and fighting climate change and I am
proud our efforts serve as an example for the rest of the nation
and the world," said Mary D. Nichols, chairman of the ARB.
"Today’s action by the California Air Resources Board means we
will see dramatic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, more
green jobs created and greater consumer choices in our state and
across the nation. With a national standard modeled after
California’s, a greener, cleaner future has finally arrived for
us all.”

The two other steps relate to compliance with the California
standards in model years 2009 through 2011, prior to the
initiation of the federal measure in 2012. The first allows
California and the thirteen other states that had adopted
California’s greenhouse gas standard to pool car sales from all
14 states instead of using a state-by-state basis for compliance;
the second is a cost-reducing measure that permits existing
federal data to be used to comply with California’s greenhouse
gas standards for those years.

The regulation adopted today allows cars that comply with the
federal greenhouse gas standards for model years 2012 to 2016 to
also comply with California’s standards for each of those years. 
The two standards differ slightly, but reach the same levels by
2016.

ARB studies indicate that, as a result of the national scope of
the standard, a total of 941 million tons of carbon dioxide will
be prevented from entering the atmosphere by cleaner cars in all
fifty states by 2020, compared to 793 million tons had the
standard been limited to California and the thirteen states that
had adopted California’s standard. The additional 148 million
tons in reductions is the equivalent of removing about 30 million
cars from the nation’s roads for a full year. A significant
number of smog-forming pollutants from vehicles will also be
reduced under the national standard.

The Air Resources Board is a department of the California
Environmental Protection Agency.  ARB’s mission is to promote and
protect public health, welfare, and ecological resources through
effective reduction of air pollutants while recognizing and
considering effects on the economy.  The ARB oversees all air
pollution control efforts in California to attain and maintain
health based air quality standards.
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