EPA Approves State’s Emissions Standards

RELEASE FROM GOVERNOR’S OFFICE:
TRENTON – New Jersey, along with 13 other states, received approval from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to establish greenhouse gas emissions standards for motor vehicles as part of a federal effort to stop climate change, Governor Jon S. Corzine announced today, June 30..
“We applaud the EPA for taking this action and recognizing the critical role that the states play in addressing the threat of global warming,” said Governor Corzine. “Now, New Jersey can move forward with implementation of these auto emissions standards which ultimately will help us reach our goal in reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 and provide more efficient cars on our roadways.”
New Jersey is one of 13 states that have opted into California’s program to tackle the threat global warming head-on with cleaner standards for motor vehicles. Under the federal Clean Air Act, California has the right to implement more stringent motor vehicle emissions standards than the federal limits, and other states have the right to adopt the California standards in lieu of the federal standards. Today, the EPA granted California’s waiver request from December 2005, allowing all 14 states to move forward with new greenhouse gas standards for motor vehicles.
“Today’s decision by the EPA is important for New Jersey because it is one of the 14 states that has adopted the California greenhouse gas standards for automobiles,” said DEP Commissioner Mark Mauriello. “We stand ready to work with the federal government and other states to establish a nationwide program that will benefit New Jersey and the rest of the country.”
The 14 states that have opted into the California program comprise more than 35 percent of vehicles on the road in the U.S.
In 2007, Governor Corzine signed an executive order to mandate a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, and an 80-percent reduction by 2050, goals which he signed into law later that year with the legislature’s passage of the Global Warming Response Act. New Jersey became only the third state in the nation to codify its greenhouse gas reduction goals. Just over a year ago, Governor Corzine signed a bill into law enabling New Jersey to participate in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, the first mandatory cap-and-trade program in the nation for carbon dioxide.