Carmakers Settle With California Clean Air Board - Californians to Breath a Little Easier

SACRAMENTO, Calif. August 11, 2003; The AP reported that state air regulators and automakers have settled a lawsuit challenging the nation's toughest auto emissions program, a spokesman for California's air board said Monday.

General Motors Corp., DaimlerChrysler and Isuzu Motors have agreed not to challenge new regulations for low-polluting and nonpolluting cars and the state will drop its appeal of lawsuit brought by automakers, said Jerry Martin, an Air Resources Board spokesman.

The settlement improves chances that rewritten regulations forcing car companies to build cleaner cars will take effect rather than face an ongoing challenge that has made strict emissions rules largely meaningless.

"We get to start getting the cars on the road so California breathers can get what they expect from us, cleaner air," Martin said.

A GM spokesman in California who spoke on condition of anonymity confirmed the settlement and said it depends on the air board adopting the rules as they now stand. The board changed its emissions regulations in April, but they are still in a public comment period and subject to change.

Automakers were scheduled to announce the settlement Tuesday.

The automakers and several central California car dealers successfully challenged California's landmark 1990 requirement that 10 percent of cars sold in the state this year -- about 100,000 vehicles -- be nonpolluting. They charged that the state overstepped its authority and was setting fuel efficiency policy that can only be set by the federal government.

A federal judge in Fresno agreed in June 2002 and ordered the state to put the regulations on hold. The automakers also won a round in state court.

The air board appealed the federal ruling, claiming the rule was sound air pollution control policy and that any improved mileage was a benefit to drivers. Environmentalists joined the state in the appeal, while the Bush administration sided with automakers.

California developed the pollution-free mandate to respond to the nation's worst air pollution -- a result of 25 million cars and a warm, sunny climate that produces smog. The policy has been continuously eroded as automakers resisted building battery-powered electric cars, which were the only available technology and helped inspire the rule.

Even as it appealed, the air board surrendered to pressure from automakers and retooled the rule in April to reflect significant improvements in tailpipe emissions and the prospect of the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle.

The new regulations call for hundreds of thousands of cleaner gas-burning vehicles, tens of thousands of gas-electric hybrids and 250 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in the next five years.

Jason Mark, of the Union of Concerned Scientists, said he thinks the automakers settled because the latest version of the unpopular rule gives them flexibility to comply.

"Quite honestly, I think the lawsuits weren't the best public relations move for the car companies," Mark said.

Air Resources Board: http://www.arb.ca.gov