EPA's California Decision Out of Character

There was a time when the federal government was not only happy to allow a state to exceed its minimum requirements for improving air quality, it sometimes required it. Those times appear to be gone, as on Dec. 19, 2007, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), refused to grant waivers to California and 16 other states allowing them to impose limits on greenhouse gas emissions that would be stricter than the new federal limits set by the newly enacted Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007.

As Environmental Issues Guide Larry West reports, the EPA's action came only days after a federal court had upheld California's right to regulate greenhouse gas emissions inside its own borders.

The reaction from California's leadership was swift and severe. As quoted in Larry West's article, California Attorney General Jerry Brown stated, "There is absolutely no legal justification for the Bush administration to deny this request. Governor Schwarzenegger and I are preparing to sue at the earliest possible moment."

The justification from the both the EPA and the White House has been the importance of enforcing a single set of nationwide standards for greenhouse gas emission, rather than allowing what EPA director Stephen L. Johnson called a "confusing patchwork of state rules."

"Patchworks" from the Past
However, a brief history lesson reminds us that it was the pre-EPA federal government itself that first not only encouraged, but created a "patchwork" of state air quality rules.

In 1967, three years before the creation of the EPA, the original Federal Air Quality Act was enacted. Part of the Act established special regulations for "air quality control regions" throughout the nation based on local meteorological and topographical factors, and existing levels of air pollution. As one of the more densely populated and smog-polluted areas, California was granted a waiver to the Air Quality Act allowing the state to set and enforce its own emissions standards for new vehicles. At the time, nobody suggested that the designated "air quality control regions" amounted to a "patchwork."

It should also be noted that, years before the federal government acknowledged air pollution as an environmental concern, California enacted one of the first regulatory air quality control measures in the nation, with passage of the California Air Pollution Control Act of 1947.

Federal legislation addressing air pollution was not passed until 1955, in the form of the Federal Air Pollution Control Act. The Act, which carried no regulatory power, merely provided funding for research and technical assistance, and authorized the Secretary of the now defunct Department of Health, Education and Welfare to work towards a better understanding of the causes and effects of air pollution. While California was already working to reduce air pollution through effective regulation, the federal government was just beginning to investigate it.

Also See:
States Say Feds Should Join Global Warming Fight
Effects of Climate Change on US Energy Demands
Is Global Warming a Hoax? (Environment)
All About Global Warming (Environment)