Arnold vs. the EPA

"I'll be back!"

And he is. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the State of California are suing the Environmental Protection Agency over its refusal to allow California auto emissions and efficiency standards to go forward. Claiming the the new federal standards will be adequate, EPA head Stephen Johnson said that California "does not meet the compelling and extraordinary conditions needed to grant a waiver for motor vehicle greenhouse gas emission standards."

Yet a recent article in the Los Angeles Times contradicts that, saying that Johnson "ignored his staff's written findings in denying California's request for a waiver." According to the article,

"California met every criteria . . . on the merits. The same criteria we have used for the last 40 years on all the other waivers," said an EPA staffer. "We told him that. All the briefings we have given him laid out the facts."

EPA administrator Stephen L. Johnson announced Wednesday that because President Bush had signed an energy bill raising average fuel economy that there was no need or justification for separate state regulation. He also said that California's request did not meet the legal standard set out in the Clean Air Act.

But his staff, which had worked for months on the waiver decision, concluded just the opposite, the sources said Thursday. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk with the media or because they feared reprisals.

California Air Resources Board Chairwoman Mary Nichols said she was also told by EPA staff that they were overruled by Johnson.

She said Johnson's decision showed "that this administration ignores the science and ignores the law to reach the politically convenient conclusion."

Nichols, who served as assistant EPA administrator overseeing air regulations under President Clinton, said she had helped write waiver decisions there, and "I know California met all the criteria on this one."

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has vowed to fight in court to overturn the decision.

Technical and legal staff also concluded that if the waiver were denied, EPA would very likely lose in court to the state, the sources said.

But if Johnson granted California the waiver and the auto industry sued, "EPA is almost certain to win," said two sources quoting the briefing document. They advised him to either grant the waiver outright or give California a temporary one for three years.

Instead, three sources said, Johnson cut off any consultation with his technical staff for the last month and made his decision before having them write the formal, legal justification for it.

"It's very highly unusual," said one source with close ties to the agency.

Aside from the legal arguments against Johnson's seemingly unilateral decision, a recent piece in Sierra shows the U.S., even with is proposed new standards, is trailing behind the rest of the industrialized world in auto fuel efficiency standards. Writes Reed McManus,

When it comes to fuel-economy standards, the United States lags far behind Europe, Japan, and even China. The average fuel economy of new U.S. cars is 27.5 miles per gallon and 22.2 mpg for SUVs, minivans, and pickups ("light trucks"), figures that have been stagnant for two decades. Under a Bush administration rule announced in 2006 -- and rejected by a federal court last November -- the fuel economy of light trucks would inch forward to about 24 mpg by 2011. That's not much to wave a checkered flag at: In 2006 new vehicles sold in Europe and Japan had achieved an estimated 40 mpg and will improve as goals are met for 2012 and 2015, respectively.

The International Council on Clean Transportation, a coalition of air-quality and transportation experts, converted the disparate fuel-economy rules and targets used worldwide to familiar EPA testing formulas. Its findings: The United States runs dead last.

Here is the chart: