House
Passes Climate Change Bill; Calls for More Electric Vehicles, Reduced
Motor Vehicle Emissions
July 2, 2009
The U.S. House passed the American Clean Energy & Security
Act last Friday. The legislation is designed to reduce global warming
pollution and transition to a clean energy economy, and among its
many efforts to achieve this is a call to reduce greenhouse emissions
from vehicles.
The legislation, if enacted as law, would amend the Public Utility
Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA) to provide for the development of
an electric vehicle infrastructure. Under the terms of the act,
the Secretary of Energy would need to establish a large-scale vehicle
electrification program, along with a program to provide financial
assistance to auto manufacturers to create plug-in electric drive
vehicles.
In addition, the act would require the administration to set motor
vehicle emissions standards. Though the legislation does not address
specific possible standards, it notes that the standards would "reflect
the greatest degree of emissions reduction achievable through the
application of technology which the Administrator determines will
be available for the model year to which such standards apply, giving
appropriate consideration to cost, energy, and safety factors associated
with the application of such technology."
The bill, which was sponsored by Rep. Henry Waxman (D. - Calif.)
and Edward Markey (D - Mass.), now will move to the Senate. It passed
the House with a vote of 219-212.
In 2006, the state of California passed similar legislation, the
Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, which called to return the
state's greenhouse emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2020. Just
last Friday, the California Air Resources Board voted to adopt auto
glass regulations that are designed to help achieve that goal. (CLICK
HERE for related story.)
Others have also suggested that they look for the California regulations
to eventually go nationwide. (CLICK
HERE for that story.)
CLICK
HERE for a related story about the new regulations recently
adopted in California.
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