California, Russia Take Steps To Combat Global Warming; Sacramento Adopts Rules On Related Auto Emissions As Moscow Moves on Kyoto
In two significant moves to reduce global-warming emissions, California regulators approved the first-ever rule in the U.S. limiting such emissions from cars and trucks, and Russian officials took what appeared to be the first formal steps toward ratifying the Kyoto Protocol, the international treaty that seeks to curb global- warming emissions from industrialized countries.</br></br>In California, state environmental officials approved a rule ordering auto makers in the 2009 model year to start selling cars and trucks with significantly reduced emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases widely believed to contribute to global warming. Because the vast majority of an automobile's global-warming emissions come from burning fuel in the engine, the California rule effectively would force the auto industry to markedly improve the fuel economy of vehicles sold in the state. The rule would force a reduction of about 30% in global-warming emissions from vehicles by 2016, when the measure takes full effect, officials said.</br></br>The rule -- if it sticks -- would have wide ramifications. Not only is California the nation's biggest auto market, but also New York and six other Northeastern states, as well as Canada, are expected to consider adopting the California rule, moves that would triple the number of automobiles required to meet the tougher standard, said the California Air Resources Board, the state clean-air regulatory agency whose board voted unanimously Friday to move forward with the rule.</br></br>The rule is a long way from taking effect. The auto industry, even as it is running advertisements trumpeting its new crop of fuel- efficient hybrid gasoline-and-electric vehicles, said it would fight hard to overturn the California measure.</br></br>The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, the industry's trade group in Washington, said it would urge the California legislature and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to block the rule, arguing the rule would require so much new technology on vehicles that it would raise the price of the average new vehicle sold in California by about $3,000 -- about triple the amount that California regulators estimate. The industry also said it is considering suing California to block the rule. The legal argument: The rule effectively amounts to a mandate for improved fuel economy, a power that, under U.S. law, is reserved for the federal government.