Green Car Advisor
Courts
October 5, 2009
A Florida company that already has won a judgment against Toyota in a hybrid technology patent infringement case, will get a hearing before the U.S. International Trade Commission on its claim that the company's newer hybrids continue to infringe on the same patent.
And whereas the federal court that found for Paice LLC in the earlier Toyota patent infringement case refused to grant the company's request to bar Toyota from selling its Prius, Highlander and Lexus RX 400 hybrids in the U.S., the trade commission's only power, should it also find for Paice, is to block Toyota's imports.
Paice requested the hearing last month.
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- John O'Dell October 5, 2009, 5:17 PM
- Categories:
- Courts, Hybrid, Toyota
- Technorati Tags:
- Paice
, Toyota Hybrid Patent Infrngement, Toyota Patent Infringement Case
September 22, 2009
We recently reported that Ford Motor Co. was seeing brisk sales of its 2010 Transit Connect compact vans, and today we discover the fuel-efficient Turkish vehicles must first undergo a strange ritual before they are sent to showrooms.
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Right, a Ford Transit Connect "wagon."
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At least, we think it strange that some of the perfectly fine seats and windows of every Transit Connect that enters the U.S. must be ripped out before the vehicles can be sold or Ford would be in violation of a law that arose during a trade spat 46 years ago.
The "chicken law" takes its name from the high tariffs Europe put on imported chickens during the early 1960 in response to rising U.S. sales of poultry to West Germany.
President Johnson retaliated by targeting German-made Volkswagens with a tax on imports of foreign-made trucks and commercial vans.
As the story in today's Wall Street Journal (subscription required) goes, Europe still has a tariff on imports of U.S. chicken and the U.S. still hits delivery vans imported from overseas with a 25 percent tariff.
American companies have to pay, too, which puts Ford in the weird position of circumventing U.S. trade rules that for years have protected U.S. automakers' market for trucks.
You can read all about Ford's wiggle room, or by using knowing this clue and allowing your imagination to run wild: Just how do customs officials define a "delivery van"?
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- Scott Doggett September 22, 2009, 3:11 PM
- Categories:
- Courts, Ford, Fuel Economy, Legislation
- Technorati Tags:
- Courts
, Ford Transit Connect, Fuel Efficient, Fuel-Efficient, Legislation, Trade, Wall Street Journal
September 10, 2009
Suit Filed Despite Industry Losses in Previous Attempts to Block State's CO2 Rules
By John O'Dell, Senior Editor
We had thought, with the decision by the feds to formulate a national greenhouse gas emissions policy, that all the fuss over California's effort to establish statewide greenhouse gas reduction standards for passenger vehicles would go away.
Boy, are we naive.
The National Auto Dealers Assn. and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce today filed a federal appeal seeking a review of the Environmental Protection Agency's July decision to allow California to proceed with implementing its automotive tailpipe regulations
The appeal, filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, appears to be an effort set the stage for an attempt to block a national standard for greenhouse gas emissions expected to be issued in draft form as early as next week.
It drew immediate and sometimes harsh reaction from environmental groups and California's head air quality regulator.
Sierra Club attorney David Bookbinder called the filing a "silly, meaningless, of little consequence" effort that shows the Chamber as an institution "that takes the most reactionary position possible."
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- John O'Dell September 10, 2009, 6:46 PM
- Categories:
- Courts, Emissions
- Technorati Tags:
- California Greenhouse Gas Rules
, GHG, Greenhouse Gases, Pavley Act
September 3, 2009
Toyota Motor Corp. faces a patent-infringement claim that may result in a U.S. import ban on its Prius and other hybrid models, the Bloomberg news service reported today.
Closely held Paice LLC filed a complaint today with the U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington, claiming Toyota is infringing its patents. It seeks an order to ban imports of products using its inventions.
Even if Paice were to prevail, Toyota would likely be able to keep selling its hybrids while it mounted a lengthy and vigorous challenge to the decision.
Paice won a jury verdict in 2005 that the Prius, Toyota Highlander and Lexus RX400h hybrid vehicles used Paice inventions related to drivetrains, Bloomberg reported. The new ITC complaint claims the hybrid Camry, third-generation Prius, Lexus HS250h and Lexus RX450h infringe the same patent.
In the complaint, Paice said Toyota is precluded from arguing that the additional vehicles don't infringe the patent or challenging its validity because of the 2005 verdict, which was upheld on appeal. The drivetrains of the vehicles in the ITC case "are materially the same" as those in the Lexus and Highlander vehicles in the civil case, Paice said in the complaint.
That same patent will be at the center of another trial set to begin Oct. 1 in federal court in Marshall, Texas, involving the Toyota Camry. Paice claims the Camry also infringes two other patents. A second case, also pending in Marshall, involves claims of infringement of another patent by the Highlander and Lexus models.
The commission in Washington is set up to protect U.S. market from unfair trade practices, including patent infringement. If it agrees to investigate Paice's claims, the investigation could be completed in about 15 months. It has the power to order U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials to block infringing products from entering the country.
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- Scott Doggett September 3, 2009, 3:46 PM
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- Courts, Hybrid, Toyota
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- Court
, Hybrid, Paice, Patent Infringement, Toyota Camry, Toyota Highlander, Toyota Prius
July 29, 2009
A judge is allowing to proceed a lawsuit by a founder of Tesla Motors that accuses the electric-carmaker and its chief executive of libel, slander and several other allegations.
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Click twice on images to enlarge.
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Martin Eberhard claims that CEO Elon Musk unfairly blamed him for Tesla's well-documented financial woes in interviews with the media and in postings on the company's blogs.
Eberhard also is suing to recover a $100,000 severance package the company took away from him for allegedly violating a non-disparagement agreement.
Yosef Peretz, who represents Eberhard against Tesla and Musk, says a San Mateo County Superior Court judge issued a written tentative ruling Tuesday refusing to toss out the lawsuit. The ruling says it appears Eberhard's lawsuit will prevail.
No trial date has been set.
Tesla responded to the decision with some equally adept backspin, saying in a statement "we are pleased that the judge struck down Eberhard's claim asking to be 'declared' one of only two founders of the company.
"We have long believed in the concept of a founding team, which includes Elon Musk as well as JB Straubel and other people who played indispensable and positive roles in Tesla's early history."
As for asking the judge to take the extraordinary step of dismissing the lawsuit, Tesla said "we still believe is an unfair personal attack and PR stunt that should not burden the court system. The judge acknowledged that it wasn't 'in his purview' to rule on the merits of the case at this very early stage, so we look forward to proving the facts in court in the upcoming months."
A spokeswoman for Tesla said the automaker also looks forward to a ruling on a request that the plaintiff "revise his original lawsuit and delete some of the most ridiculous and demonstrably false statements and innuendos, including implications that Elon may not have received his undergraduate degrees or been accepted to graduate school at Stanford."
About those degrees: Musk did indeed receive two degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, and he was indeed accepted into a graduate program at Stanford. He bailed from the program only a couple of days into it.
National Student Clearinghouse, a company that verifies academic degrees, past attendance and the like, verified Musk's claim that he received two degrees from Penn. We have attached them for your viewing pleasure.
We've also attached a letter from Stanford, substantiating Musk's claim that he was admitted into a graduate program at the university. Enjoy!
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- Scott Doggett July 29, 2009, 7:23 PM
- Categories:
- Courts, Emissions, Fuel Economy, Plug-ins and Electric, Tesla
- Technorati Tags:
- Electric Vehicle
, Elon Musk, EV, Founder, Lawsuit, Martin Eberhard, Plug-in EV, Tesla Motors
July 2, 2009
Hundreds of solar panels contribute up to 40 kilowatts directly into the Auriga Leader's electrical system
.
By Scott Doggett, Contributor
The Auriga Leader, the first pure car carrier partly powered by solar energy, called on the Port of Long Beach Wednesday to unload a cargo consisting chiefly of Toyota Priuses (pictured right).
Rising more than seven stories out of blue-green water, the ship sported 328 solar panels affixed to the top deck to offset diesel fuel consumption and reduce air pollution.
The 656-foot, 60,000-ton vessel can carry more than 6,200 cars at a time and regularly does so, transporting Toyota, Lexus and Scion vehicles from Toyota Motor Co. factories in Japan to this port 24 miles south of downtown Los Angeles.
On Wednesday, under a clear blue Southern California sky, Captain Eugen State (pictured
) told Green Car Advisor
that on this trip some 60 percent of the vehicles aboard his ship were third-generation Priuses - a fact he said with pride.
While Toyota on Wednesday reported a 32 percent plunge in June-over-May sales overall, demand for the spunky hybrid actually rose 10 percent for the same period and its second-quarter sales outperformed first-quarter figures by more than 51,000 vehicles.
But enough about the car. On this day the news at Toyota's 144-acre spread at the Port of Long Beach was the seaworthy car-mover, not the cargo. Pure car carriers are notorious for fouling air while docked, and the world's biggest automaker was doing something about it.
In the seven months since the Auriga Leader was fitted with solar panels, the first vessel in its class to utilize solar technology to add electricity to its grid - as opposed meeting a particular need, such as powering a ship's low-watt lighting - curbed its thirst for diesel by an estimated six tons, State told us.
State emphasized that the panels constituted an experiment to see if such a system would work effectively aboard a car carrier. So far, so good, State said, adding that not a single problem had arisen since the panels were installed last December.
"She may be the first of her kind," he said, "for sure, she will not be the last."
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- Scott Doggett July 2, 2009, 1:16 AM
- Categories:
- China, Courts, Diesel, Emissions, Fuel Economy, Solar, Tesla
- Technorati Tags:
- Air Pollution
, Auriga Leader, Emissions, Fuel Economy, Solar Energy, Solar Power, Toyota Motor Co., Toyota Prius
July 1, 2009
By Scott Doggett, Contributor
California's air-quality authorities are an innovative bunch, and this month they took an unprecedented step toward making the Golden State less hazy by requiring automakers to place a reflective coating on the windshields of cars and trucks purchased in California.
The requirement is one of several that the California Air Resources Board has considered under its Cool Cars program, which is designed, as you likely guessed, to keep vehicles in the sunny state cooler.
By doing that, they reason, Californians won't need to use their vehicles' air conditioners as much, which will reduce the strain on automotive engines, which will decrease the speed with which we gobble up fossil fuels, which in turn will reduce the amount of greenhouse gases we release into the atmosphere.
Green Car Advisor first reported on the program in February, when CARB was focusing on having paint-makers tweak their automotive paints so they'd be more light reflective - as opposed to more light absorbing.
Light-absorbing paints, the king of which is black, contribute significantly to a vehicle's cabin temperature when parked in direct sunlight. Hot parked cars tend to cause their owners to reach for A-C controls the moment they enter their vehicles. Running the air conditioners adds to the workload of the vehicles, which in turn results in higher fuel consumption - you know the story.
The same is true with regard to windshields. When you consider at how much of the surface area of a car's sunny side consists of windshields, you can appreciate how important it is for the glass to be sunlight-reflective to help keep a vehicle's interior cool when parked in sunlight.
The technology used by glass manufacturers to make more reflective car windows has been around for nearly 20 years, said Mukesh Rustagi, director of strategic product management at Pittsburgh Glass Works, the largest automotive glass supplier in North America.
The technology exists and it's not particularly costly compared to, say, wiping out entire species and watching the world's glaciers - water sources for more than a billion people - melt away.
With that in mind, California's air regulators voted unanimously last week for a mandate requiring automakers to include sun-reflecting windshields on all vehicles sold within the state by 2014.
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- Scott Doggett July 1, 2009, 12:01 AM
- Categories:
- Chrysler, Courts, Emissions, Ford, Fuel Economy, General Motors, Honda
- Technorati Tags:
- Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers
, California Air Resources Board, CARB, Carbon Dioxide, Chrysler, Climate Change, Ford, Global Warming, Greenhouse Gases, Honda, Reflective Glass, Toyota
June 30, 2009
UPDATE: Adds details, comments from state officials.
By Scott Doggett, Contributor
The Obama administration announced today that it will give California the waiver it needs to begin regulating greenhouse-gas emissions from cars and trucks, ending the state's seven-year battle to enforce its own stringent tailpipe standards.
The decision comes a little more than a month after President Obama unveiled a suite of new national auto standards that weds federal fuel-economy standards with California's proposed emissions standards, making today's announcement anticlimactic.
Still, those federal standards will not take effect until model-year 2012, meaning the waiver will allow California and other states that choose to enforce their own emissions standards to begin with this year's models.
"This waiver is consistent with the Clean Air Act as it's been used for the last 40 years and supports the prerogatives of the 13 states and the District of Columbia who have opted to follow California's lead," EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said in a statement. "More importantly, this decision reinforces the historic agreement on nationwide emissions standards developed by a broad coalition of industry, government and environmental stakeholders earlier this year."
Under the Clean Air Act, California is the only state that can enforce its own standards -- but only with an EPA waiver. Now that California has been granted the waiver, other states will be allowed to enforce the same tailpipe standard. Thirteen other states and the District of Columbia have already moved to adopt the California's standards, and a handful of others have indicated they may follow.
"The waiver affirms California 's authority to set the standards for the cleanest cars in the nation and recognizes the ability of forward-thinking states to continue to adopt them," CARB Chairwoman Mary Nichols said in a statement. "Now we can begin to work with the manufacturers to make a new generation of cars that deliver all the comfort and power we have come to expect but with improved efficiency and far fewer greenhouse gas emissions."
The waiver gives California -- and states that choose to adopt California's standards -- permission to enforce its standards through 2009, 2010 and 2011; or three years earlier than the federal standards take effect.
Additionally, California is working on an extension beyond 2016 right now, CARB spokesman Stanley Young told Green Car Advisor. He said CARB officials are in communication with Obama administration officials regarding national fuel-economy standards, "but we're working independently in California as a kind of laboratory of innovation."
In other words, California's air-quality regulators are going to do what they feel is best for the state regardless of what the U.S. EPA does. Young said he's hopeful national regulators will follow California's lead.
"This is just the first step in a much longer journey to produce cleaner cars," he said.
California adopted the tailpipe standards in 2002 and had been fighting for a waiver since 2005. Under then-President George W. Bush, EPA denied the state's request, but Obama ordered a review of the decision soon after taking office.
The auto industry had challenged California's attempt to regulate tailpipe emissions, arguing it would create a "regulatory patchwork" that would depress overall sales and put some dealers at a competitive disadvantage. Car makers and dealers argued that because consumers buy vehicles in different quantities in different states, automakers' fleetwide greenhouse-gas averages would vary by state, forcing manufacturers to manipulate the amount of each model they make available in each state.
The litigation was unsuccessful in federal courts, and the industry agreed to drop their legal challenges as part of the compromise that led to the new federal auto standards.
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- Scott Doggett June 30, 2009, 11:11 AM
- Categories:
- Courts, Emissions, Fuel Economy, Legislation
- Technorati Tags:
- CAFE Standards
, CARB, Climate Change, Fuel Economy, Fuel Efficient, Global Warming, Obama, Tailpipe Emissions
General Motors has announced its intention to abandon its 25-year-old California joint venture with Toyota -- a move the Japanese automaker said would add to its own financial woes -- and Bloomberg has reported that Toyota may produce a hybrid for GM.
Only two weeks ago, Bloomberg reported that GM and Toyota were considering possibly of building Prius hybrids together at an existing plant in Fremont, California.
But in a statement released Monday, GM said it will place its 50 percent ownership stake in New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. -- or NUMMI, the GM-Toyota joint venture that consists chiefly of the Fremont factory -- in the "old GM."
The "old GM" will contain parts of the company that will remain in bankruptcy after a "new GM" exits court protection.
GM filed for Chapter 11 protection on June 1 and plans for its profitable assets to emerge, possibly by the end of summer, as a "new GM" with about $50 billion in financing from the U.S. Treasury.
"After extensive analysis, GM and Toyota could not reach an agreement on a future product plan that made sense for all parties," Troy Clarke, GM's president of North American operations, said in statement.
"Accordingly, NUMMI will end production of vehicles for GM in August, and there are no future GM vehicles planned for the joint venture at this time."
Earlier this month, GM said that production of the Pontiac Vibe at the NUMMI plant would end in August as the Pontiac brand is being eliminated. Toyota builds the Corolla small car and the Tacoma pickup truck at the plant.
In a statement released Monday, Toyota said it was sorry GM was withdrawing from NUMMI, "ending a long, successful partnership spanning 25 years."
"Our hope was for the 50/50 joint venture to continue," the statement said. "While we respect this decision by GM, the economic and business environment surrounding Toyota is also extremely severe, and so this decision by GM makes the situation even more difficult for Toyota. We will consider alternatives by taking into account various factors."
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- Scott Doggett June 30, 2009, 12:39 AM
- Categories:
- Batteries, Courts, Emissions, Fuel Economy, General Motors, Hybrid, Plug-ins and Electric, Toyota
- Technorati Tags:
- Bloomberg
, Creen Car Advisor, General Motors, NUMMI, Toyota Prius
June 24, 2009
General Motors is reportedly seeking from Chrysler full payment of development and production costs related to the two-mode hybrid powertrain that the two automakers co-developed with other partners.
PickupTrucks.com reports that GM has filed court documents saying that Chrysler has promised $173,477 to settle $531,275 in costs associated with the development and manufacture of the Chrysler Aspen (pictured) and Dodge Durango Two-Mode Hybrid SUVs.
You might recall that both of the vehicles were killed after only two months of production.
Calls by Green Car Advisor to Julie Gibson, the GM spokeswoman authorized to discuss the matter, were not immediately returned.
Under Chapter 11, Chrysler's assets and liabilities were assigned to two entities: Old Chrysler and New Chrysler. Italian automaker Fiat, which recently merged with New Chrysler after that portion of the company emerged from bankruptcy, has not assumed the two-mode hybrid contract, leaving it with Old Chrysler.
According to a report by TheDetroitBureau.com, the court documents also state that New Chrysler has assigned all production-related contracts to Old Chrysler.
The Website reported that a source outside Chrysler said that Chrysler is hoping to renegotiate many of its pre-bankruptcy production contracts so they can be signed by New Chrysler under more favorable terms. The two-mode hybrid deal reportedly is one of those.
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- Scott Doggett June 24, 2009, 10:12 AM
- Categories:
- Chrysler, Courts, Dodge, Fuel Economy, General Motors, Hybrid, Legislation
- Technorati Tags:
- Chrysler Bankruptcy
, Chrysler LLC, Court, General Motors, GM Bankruptcy, Two-Mode Hybrid
June 23, 2009
Declaring it a moot exercise now that the federal government is moving to accomplish the same goals, California's attorney general has agreed to drop the state's suit against the six major automakers over alleged greenhouse gas damages to California natural resources.
The state had sued General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co., Chrysler and the North American operations of Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co., claiming carbon emissions from their vehicles contribute to climate warming, which is accelerating the annual melting of the Sierra snowpack, increasing air pollution and harming wildlife.
But Attorney General Jerry Brown late last week asked the federal Court of Appeals in San Francisco to withdraw the suit. He said changes in federal policy under the Obama administration would achieve the same goal - reduction in automotive greenhouse gas emissions - sought by the lawsuit.
Brown was referring to the administration's recent decision to require automakers to achieve a fleet fuel economy average of 35.5 miles per gallon under the federal CAFE standard by 2016 (that's about 27 mpg on the EPA fuel economy rating system used on new-car window stickers).
Because greenhouse gas emissions are directly related to the amount of carbon-based fuel burned per mile traveled, fuel economy increases result in a reduction of CO2 and other greenhouse gasses linked to climate warming.
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- John O'Dell June 23, 2009, 12:02 PM
- Categories:
- Courts, Emissions
- Technorati Tags:
- California Greenhouse Gas Lawsuit
, Greenhouse Gas Damages
June 4, 2009
By Scott Doggett, Contributor
Cancer is caused by hereditary and environmental factors. Little can be done about the former. But quite a lot can be done about the latter - and the American Trucking Association doesn't want to hear another word about it.
Just when the political climate seemed right for air-quality regulators and others to protect the millions of people who live downwind of America's seaports, the self-proclaimed "advocacy organization for the U.S. trucking industry" stepped forward and crushed that presumption with lawsuits.
At the heart of the conflict are old big rigs that haul goods from the seaports inland, spewing thousands of tons of carcinogenic diesel particulates annually as they go.
But the greatest concentration of their microscopic toxic emissions exists at the ports, where the trucks congregate, engines running, awaiting turns to load up and move out to destinations throughout California and beyond.
That their emissions contribute to abnormally high numbers of asthma, bronchitis and cancer victims in and around the ports is irrefutable. Studies have shown that like an atomic bomb detonated in a populated area, the casualty count is greatest at ground zero and decreases with distance from it.
For this reason, the state's air-quality regulators, port authorities, environmental groups and others have sought to reduce the amount of lethal emissions leaving tractor-trailers at the state's various seaports.
They had initial success last year with the neighboring ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, where for a time they were initially able to require trucking firms to use new cleaner-burning diesel trucks or trucks fueled with natural gas.
Authorities say the two ports spew more soot and smog than half a million cars, an oil refinery and a power plant combined. Port trucks produce 30 percent to 40 percent of that pollution, with the rest produced by ships and locomotives at the ports.
Then thanks to the truckers' advocacy group, lawyers entered the fray and cried foul. Ultimately, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in the ATA's favor, calling the ports' requirement unconstitutional on the grounds that it interfered in interstate commerce.
The ATA claimed the ports' requirement placed a tremendous financial burden on trucking firms. Doesn't matter that the ports - the nation's busiest - offered to help with a $20,000-per-truck incentive for trucking operations that bought clean rigs.
Despite the ports' defeat in court, the Port of Oakland this week tried to pass an air-quality plan aimed at cleaning up one of the dirtiest industrial areas in the country.
The port's commissioners voted 3-2 for a truck management rule that would ban many old haulers and require others to retrofits to reduce diesel pollution. The tally was a vote shy of the four needed to clear the proposal.
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- Scott Doggett June 4, 2009, 1:20 AM
- Categories:
- Courts, Diesel, Emissions, Legislation, Natural Gas
- Technorati Tags:
- American Trucking Association
, Cancer, Court, Diesel Exhaust, Diesel Trucks, Emissions, Legislation, Natural Gas Trucks
March 25, 2009
A bipartisan group of House lawmakers on Monday asked President Obama to toughen proposed auto fuel-efficiency standards beyond those the Bush administration proposed in last year's corporate fuel economy (CAFE) rule.
More than 80 Democratic and Republican House members signed a letter to Obama that asks the new administration to incorporate "realistic assumptions" into its math as it reviews the Bush administration fuel-efficiency plan.
The letter written by Representatives Ed Markey (D-Mass) and Todd Russell Platts (R, Pa.) says that the Bush CAFE proposal was "based on a systemic overestimation of the costs of implementing fuel efficient technologies and a systemic underestimation of its benefits."
The letter criticizes the Bush administration's optimistic belief that gasoline prices would average just $2.42 per gallon in 2016 and would only rise to $2.51 in 2030. It also questions the Bush administration's willingness to accept at face value the automobile industry's estimates of the cost of developing new fuel efficiency technology.
We've said it before, but it bears repeating: CAFE is a necessary evil in that it forces automakers to improve fuel-efficiency. But car companies can pay relatively modest fines and ignore the standards. We'd rather see Uncle Sam using market forces, in the form of fuel taxes or fuel economy-based registration fees, to encourage consumers to demand fuel-efficient models.
That strategy would more quickly get the nation to where it wants to go when it comes to fuel economy and cleaner tailpipe emissions.
But Washington hates the idea of new taxes and fees and instead seems to be setting the stage for tougher CAFE numbers -- which we'll pay for anyhow, in the form of higher prices for CAFE-compliant vehicles.
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- Greg Johnson March 25, 2009, 11:28 AM
- Categories:
- Courts, Emissions, Fuel Economy, Tax Incentives
- Technorati Tags:
- CAFE Standards
, Fuel Economy, Tailpipe Emissions
February 23, 2009
Carol Browner (right
), President Obama's climate czarina, has said the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will soon determine that carbon-dioxide emissions represent a danger to the public and propose new rules to regulate emissions of the greenhouse gas from a range of industries.
You'll no doubt recall that Browner headed the EPA under President Clinton for nearly eight years -- the longest anyone has held that position -- and that she sits on the board of the Audubon Society, the League of Conservation Voters and the Alliance for Climate Protection. In other words, she's green through and through.
Browner, special adviser to Obama on climate change and energy, said in an interview Sunday that the EPA is looking at a 2007 Supreme Court ruling that requires the agency to determine whether carbon dioxide endangers public health or welfare, The Wall Street Journal reported today (sub reqd). And the agency "will make an endangerment finding," she said.
"The next step is a notice of proposed rule making" for new regulations on carbon-dioxide emissions, said Browner, speaking on the sidelines of the National Governors Association meeting in Washington.
Officially recognizing that carbon dioxide is a danger to the public would require the government, under the Clean Air Act, to draw up regulations governing greenhouse-gas emissions from motor vehicles, coal-fired power plants, chemical plants and other sources.
Browner said the administration is seeking to establish a national policy for tailpipe emissions that could mean tougher efficiency mandates for automakers. The White House said Sunday that the standard would be developed as part of the continuing restructuring negotiations between the government and major automakers.
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- Scott Doggett February 23, 2009, 12:05 AM
- Categories:
- Courts, Emissions, Energy Companies, Fuel Economy, Legislation
- Technorati Tags:
- Automakers
, Carbon Dioxide, Carol Browner, CO2 Emissions, Department of Transportation, DOT, Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, Greenhouse Gas
January 14, 2009
In one of its final legal briefs, the Bush administration has urged a federal appeals court to reject California's bid to curb greenhouse-gas emissions spewed from motor vehicles sold in the state.
Department of Justice attorneys on Friday defended U.S. EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson's decision last March to reject California's request for a federal waiver that would allow it to set its own tailpipe emissions standards.
In denying California's petition, Johnson claimed it did not meet the "compelling and extraordinary conditions" requirement under the Clean Air Act that previously has cleared the state for setting laws of its own that are more stringent than those of the federal government, DOJ Assistant Attorney General Ronald Tenpas said.
In this instance, Johnson's decision hinged on the notion that the greenhouse-gas emissions contributing to global warming are not local or regional in nature, and therefore the state's efforts would not adequately address the climate problem, Tenpas said.
California sued the Environmental Protection Agecny last summer over Johnson's decision, and the case is now winding its way through the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Final briefs are due March 6, although it is unclear what will happen to the litigation when President-elect Barack Obama takes office next week.
Obama said last month that his legal team is reviewing the California issue and he has all but said that he will grant the waiver.
"I think it is very important just to look at the history when it comes to the regulation of emissions in California," Obama said. "Consistently, California has hit the bar, and then the rest of the country has followed."
California needs federal EPA approval before it can begin to enforce a 2002 law that would require automakers to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from new vehicles by 30 percent by 2016 -- a move that automakers say would force them to boost efficiency substantially above levels already established by a December 2007 energy law.
More than a dozen other states have followed California's lead, but they, too, cannot implement their regulations until EPA signs off on the waiver request.
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- Scott Doggett January 14, 2009, 1:01 AM
- Categories:
- Courts, Emissions, Fuel Economy, Legislation
- Technorati Tags:
- Barack Obama
, Bush Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, Global Warming, Greenhouse Gas, Stephen Johnson, Tailpipe Emissions
December 10, 2008
The Criminal Investigation Division of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency launched a Website
today to enlist the public's help in tracking down fugitives accused of violating federal environmental laws.
At least three of the fugitives being sought are wanted for offenses close to our heart.
The most heinous of the three is the father-son team of Alessandro and Carlos Giordano, the former owners of Autodelta USA, who were arrested in 2003.
The EPA claims the company illegally imported and sold Alfa Romeos in California that did not meet U.S. emission or safety standards. The two men are believed to be living in Italy.
Also wanted by the feds is Jun Wang, who allegedly discharged fuel from his tanker truck directly into Little Beaver Creek in Kettering, Ohio.
Neither the type of fuel nor information on possible victims were immediately available, but we suspect beavers and/or little beavers may have been involved.
Wang (left) is believed to be living in Shenyang, China.
Information about the EPA's captured fugitives can also be found on the site.
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- Scott Doggett December 10, 2008, 2:56 PM
- Categories:
- Alfa Romeo, China, Courts, Emissions, Fuels & Technologies
- Technorati Tags:
- Alfa Romeo
, China, Court, Emissions, Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, Fuel
December 9, 2008
Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski's recent sweep through China and Japan appears to have paid dividends for his bold bid to make his state America's primary launching pad for electric cars, according to an article published today by Climate Wire
(subscription required).
Kulongoski (pictured), a two-term Democrat, went to Asia last month with the express purpose of attracting Asian carmakers to Oregon. He returned with a deal in hand from Nissan Motor Co. to provide electric vehicles to the state fleet starting in 2010 and a tentative commitment from a fledgling Chinese company to start a pilot program in Oregon.
And while the deal with Nissan and related talks with Toyota Motor Co. may have won the governor the most press, the meetings with BYD Auto Co., a Chinese battery manufacturer turned electric-car outfit, may ultimately do more to position Oregon as a leader in the low-emission vehicle market.
"We want Oregon to be the launch site for electric cars," Jillian Schoene, a Kulongoski aide who traveled with the governor through Asia and took part in meetings with BYD, told Climate Wire. "These car companies knew that about us before we walked into their door."
BYD, which stands for "Build Your Dreams," is shopping for a U.S. pilot site to roll out its hybrid plug-in sedan, the F3DM, which goes on the market in China in less than two weeks. Oregon could emerge as the ideal test market, given Kulongoski's vision of charging stations every 60 miles on the highway, not to mention Pacific Power's direct connection to the Chinese battery maker.
The utility, based in Redmond, Oregon, is owned by a subsidiary of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, MidAmerican Energy Holdings, which bought a 10 percent stake in BYD this fall for $230 million. That relationship could propel the Portland area past Los Angeles, the other U.S. city in the running for the project.
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- Scott Doggett December 9, 2008, 6:37 PM
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Congressional Democrats crafting an auto industry bailout are pushing to include language requiring carmakers to drop their legal challenge to an attempt by more than a dozen states to regulate climate-changing emissions from motor vehicles.
A Democratic draft bill would require that Detroit carmakers who receive a portion of the bailout to drop their lawsuit against state efforts to enforce greenhouse-gas tailpipe restrictions on cars and trucks. The bill would prevent the carmakers from participating in "any legal challenge (existing or contemplated) to state laws concerning greenhouse-gas emission standards."
Longtime supporters of California's request for a waiver from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to enforce such restrictions, which when granted would permit other state's to adopt California's car-emissions rules, are promoting the provision. Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer of California, who heads the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, is among them.
One of the reasons the auto industry is in trouble is their fight against the waiver, Boxer told reporters Monday. Meeting California's tougher-than-federal emissions standards is in the automakers' best interests, she said.
But Republicans and auto industry supporters say the provision is unnecessary and counterproductive.
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- Scott Doggett December 9, 2008, 11:52 AM
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December 4, 2008
Fisker Automotive, which has designed and plans to manufacture an exotic plug-in hybrid sport sedan, has been awarded $1.14 million in legal fees and costs from electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla Motors.
Fisker, its principals and an associated company had been sued by Tesla
for allegedly stealing Tesla trade secrets and using them to design its plug-in, the Fisker Karma.
Fisker chief executive Henrik Fisker (right)
, a noted auto designer, had been retained by Tesla in 2006 and 2007 to design a $45,000 battery-electric sedan the company wants to build as a follow-up to its electric sports car, the Tesla Roadster.
The case went to binding arbitration after Tesla filed suit, and Fisker announced last month that the case had been decided in his company's favor, the arbitrator ruling in fairly harsh language that Tesla's allegations were "baseless and neither brought nor pursued in good faith."
Today he released details of the final award: Fisker and the others are to be reimbursed $1.027 million they paid in legal fees defending themselves, and $119,000 in other costs connected with the case.
In his ruling, the arbitrator found that Fisker had been aboveboard in disclosing his plans for a plug-in hybrid to Tesla and that Tesla renewed its contract with him when it knew he was hoping to find financing for such a car.
The suit was filed not because Tesla thought Fisker stole secrets, the arbitrator wrote, but out of anger that the company found financing for its Karma (right)
project despite Tesla's in-house analysis that the project would fail.
That analysis, by the way, was delivered to Tesla's executive board in September, 2007, according to the arbitration report, by Tesla's then-marketing vice president, Darryl Siry.
Siry resigned his position earlier this week over what he called a difference of opinion with company chairman Elon Musk regarding Tesla' strategic plans.
Fisker had no comment today on the final award, and Tesla did not respond to a request for comment but last month, when the verdict was initially announced, said that it disagreed with the decision
but was focused now on the business of producing and delivering Roadsters
(left)
.
All we can say is that we wish both of them the best and that we've really seen the end of Tesla vs. Fisker. The world needs more clean car manufacturers, not fewer,and we need them working, not fighting.
John O'Dell, Senior Editor
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- John O'Dell December 4, 2008, 5:00 PM
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November 3, 2008
Tesla Motors' chief spokesman said the company disagrees with the findings of a private arbitrator
who ruled late last week that the electric vehicle manufacturer's theft of trade secrets suit against auto designer and potential Tesla competitor Henrik Fisker were "baseless."
"The only comment is [that] we disagree with the decision and are focused on producing and delivering cars to our customers," Tesla marketing vice president Darryl Siry said in an e-mail exchange this morning with Green Car Advisor.
Siry's comment appears to signal an end to Tesla's suit, which was handed over to a private arbitration service under terms of Tesla's contract with Fisker. The EV maker retained the designer last year to help design an electric sedan for Tesla
Tesla later filed a suit claiming that Fisker, his business partner and two Fisker companies had stolen technical secrets and used them to help design the Fisker Karma, a luxury sport sedan with a plug-in hybrid electric drive-train that Fisker Automotive plans to introduce in the fourth quarter of 2009.
Terms of the arbitration decision have not been disclosed.
Tesla -- which recently slowed production of its battery-electric Roadster and laid off almost 25 percent of its workforce because of a cash crunch -- was seeking return of $800,000 paid to Fisker for his design services and now, at the least, is likely to be ordered to pay all of the legal costs incurred by Fisker in defending against the suit.
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- John O'Dell November 3, 2008, 8:33 AM
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Acclaimed car designer Henrik Fisker (right)
said Sunday that a private arbiter has dismissed electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla Motors Co.'s claim that Fisker, his partner and his companies stole its technology and tried to sabotage its development program.
Tesla earlier this year sued the designer and his business partner, Bernhard Koehler, and the companies Fisker Coachbuild and Fisker Automotive over alleged theft of trade secrets.
The arbitrator's ruling, according to a statement issued by Fisker, called Tesla's suit "baseless" and said it was not filed in good faith.
The case was not being heard in a regular court but had been sent to arbitration under a contractual agreement that called for any disputes to be resolved via the private hearing process.
Tesla, based in Northern California near Stanford University, is the manufacturer of the battery-electric Tesla Roadster and had hired Henrik Fisker, former head designer in the U.S. for BMW and Aston Martin, to help it with a second vehicle, an electric sedan code-named the Model S.
After parting company with Tesla late last year, Fisker -- whose Fisker Coachbuild specializes in redesigning and fabricating reskinned versions of mass-market luxury performance cars for well-to-do clients -- announced that he was preparing to introduce an all-new plug-in electric hybrid sedan.
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- John O'Dell November 3, 2008, 2:43 AM
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October 31, 2008
In a ruling being cheered by New York's taxi company owners, a federal judge in Manhattan has blocked implementation of a city requirement that all new vehicles in the taxi fleet deliver fuel economy of at least 25 mile per gallon now and 30 miles per gallon beginning in October 2009.
The ruling effectively guts Mayor Michael Bloomberg's plan to reduce the city's air pollution and carbon footprint by substantially reducing automotive smog and carbon emissions.
There are more than 15,000 cabs in New York, most spending much of their operating time idling or rolling at low speeds -- situations that heavily increase toxic tailpipe emissions.
Most of the New York taxi cabs are large passenger vehicles -- the 12-miles-per-gallon Ford Crown Victoria is a popular choice -- emitting almost three times the carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases of many hybrid models.
About 10 percent of the city's cabs are hybrids now, mainly Ford Escape hybrid SUVs, and Bloomberg had hoped the new fuel economy minimums would rapidly convert the entire fleet to hybrids of other fuel-efficient vehicles.
In addition to their fuel economy -- which reduces carbon emissions -- hybrid cabs can dramatically reduce toxic emissions by running on electric power alone at very low speeds and shutting down their gas engines when idling or stopped at traffic signals and stop signs.
The Metropolitan Taxicab Board of Trade filed suit, though, claiming that the hybrids weren't safe or comfortable for passengers when converted to taxis and that only the federal government has the right to impose vehicle fuel economy standards.
Federal Judge Paul Crotty didn't address the safety measure, but ruled in the taxi company trade group's favor on grounds of federal preemption -- that in cases of fuel economy regulation, the federal government's standards preempt local or state rules.
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- John O'Dell October 31, 2008, 4:07 PM
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September 22, 2008
New York City taxi drivers are fighting a law requiring that all new cabs entering service in Manhattan beginning Oct. 1 be hybrid vehicles.
Among their complaints: Partitions mandated by the city to prevent drivers from being assaulted prevent side-curtain airbags from deploying, become easily dislodged in accidents and "restrict drivers from safely distancing themselves from front airbags."
Safety issues form the basis of a lawsuit the cabbies have filed against Gotham, but privately many say they just don't like giving up the passenger legroom and trunk space they've come to enjoy in the Ford Crown Victoria, a popular model with American taxi drivers.
Cab drivers serving bustling Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, California, had the same complaints before they began trading in their gas-slurping rides for gas-sippers earlier this year, but the smaller fuel-efficient vehicles have since won them over.
And according to a story in the Los Angeles Times, the cabbies' customers appreciate the hybrids too.
"Most of my passengers really like it. Some think it's small, but I'd say 97 percent of them like this car," Káren Malkhasyan, a lanky cabbie who drives a Toyota Prius, told the Times. "It's comfortable. It's roomy, even for me."
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- Scott Doggett September 22, 2008, 2:01 AM
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- Courts, Ford, Fuel Economy, Hybrid, Legislation, Toyota
September 11, 2008
Following a six-year legal battle, federal safety regulators have launched an online database that details thousands of deaths, injuries and property claims made to automakers and tire manufacturers.
The database at safercar.gov, which also includes data on lawsuits, recalls and other reported defects, can be helpful to motorists looking to downsize from gas-guzzlers to fuel-efficient vehicles and wanting to avoid vehicles that have safety issues.
Created in the wake of the recall of 14.4 million Firestone tires that were linked to 270 deaths, the database is designed to help prevent auto defects from causing widespread harm.
Automakers and tire manufacturers started submitting the information to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in 2003 to alert the agency to possible widespread safety dangers before they cause serious harm.
Under pressure from the manufacturers, NHTSA is withholding some data from the public database, including consumer complaints to the manufacturer and the last six digits of vehicle identification numbers.
Safety advocates praised the decision by the courts to force the information to become public, but said the database wasn't "consumer friendly" enough and didn't disclose enough information.
Scott Doggett, Contributor
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- Scott Doggett September 11, 2008, 7:23 AM
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September 9, 2008
By Scott Doggett, Contributor
A new report by an automotive engineer allegedly exposes the many dangers of riding in New York City's hybrid yellow taxicabs.
By law, NYC fleet operators can use a vehicle as a taxi for three years before it must be replaced. Starting Oct. 1, the new cabs will have to be one of eight approved hybrids.
The move is intended to improve Manhattan's air quality. About 3,000 of the 13,000 NYC yellow taxis and roughly 2,200 of the 10,000 black taxis are replaced annually.
The report by C. Bruce Gambardella, which was paid for by the Metropolitan Taxicab Board of Trade, the country's largest taxi fleet association, concludes that hybrids are not designed to hold partitions.
Partitions are mandated by the city's Taxi and Limousine Commission to prevent drivers from being assaulted, robbed and/or killed. Gambardella claims partitions in hybrid taxis block side-curtain airbags from deploying, become easily dislodged in accidents and "restrict drivers from safely distancing themselves from front airbags."
Gambardella further alleges that partitions diminish backseat legroom so severely that "even belted passengers will hit their faces on the hard, unyielding surface of the partition in an accident."
On Monday, the taxi fleet association sued the city, urging that the Oct. 1 mandate be annulled.
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- Scott Doggett September 9, 2008, 3:48 PM
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September 3, 2008
Hyundai Motor Co. plans to meet the proposed U.S. fuel economy standard of 35 miles per gallon in 2015 -- five years earlier than required -- and do it without relying heavily on hybrid vehicles, The Wall Street Journal
reported
today.
The South Korean automaker intends to reach that standard for its Hyundai and Kia brands by building smaller cars and using lighter materials as well as new engine and powertrain technologies such as gasoline direct injection, dual continuously variable valve timing and eight-speed automatic transmissions, the Journal reported, citing an interview with Lee Hyun-soon (right), head of Hyundai's research and development division.
The declaration comes at a time when most automakers, including Detroit's Big 3, are whining to U.S. regulators that an interim step in boosting fuel standards -- to 31.6 mpg by 2015 -- would pose a hardship for them.
"With just conventional gasoline engines, we think we can hit 35," Lee said in an interview at company's research and test center. "We have the technology to improve fuel economy. The problem was it increased the cost of the vehicle. Now, with higher oil prices, we can justify the technology."
In December, President Bush signed a law that requires automakers to boost their fleetwide gas mileage, for cars and light trucks, to an average of 35 mpg by 2020. The standard this year is 27.5 mpg for cars and 22.5 mpg for light trucks.
Since the law's passage, automakers have tried to influence new regulations being developed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Agency, which is responsible for enforcing the new standard.
Asked whether Hyundai may be able to gain a marketing edge by meeting the 2020 target early, Lee said: "Everybody has the same homework. Maybe we are a little bit faster. Our engineers are working hard on this."
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- Scott Doggett September 3, 2008, 11:57 AM
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August 29, 2008
Major tire maker Bridgestone America announced today that it will no longer use lead wheel weights.
The company, which operates 2,000 tire service stores across the U.S., made the announcement at a joint press conference in Detroit at which the federal Environmental Protection Agency called on businesses to voluntarily switch to steel weights when balancing wheels and tires.
The press conference served as the formal launch of the EPA's National Lead-Free Wheel Weight Initiative. The weights are attached to wheels when tires are installed to counteract the combined effect of tire and wheel weight imbalances that can cause the wheel to wobble.
The trouble with lead weights is that they tend to fall off, get ground to lead dust by passing vehicles and eventually end up in groundwater supplies. In humans, lead particles can cause brain damage, birth defects and death.
The EPA's initiative follows a recent court decision that resulted in Chrysler and the three largest wheel weight makers in America agreeing to stop using lead weights in California by the end of 2009.
In its suit, the Oakland-based Center for Environmental Health maintained that errant tire weights are responsible for 500,000 pounds of lead being released into California's environment alone each year.
According to Jeff Gearhart, director of the Clean Car Campaign at the Michigan-based Ecology Center, lead wheel weights are the nation's largest unregulated source of new lead leaching into the environment.
Scott Doggett, Contributor
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- Scott Doggett August 29, 2008, 10:04 AM
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August 13, 2008
By Bill Visnic, Senior Editor
The annual Center for Automotive Research Management Briefing Seminars confab in Traverse City, MI, put together a feisty session Tuesday called "Energy, Efficiency and Climate -- What Role Auto?" And while the session resulted in some prickly give-and-take between auto-industry and environmental representatives, there was essentially agreement on one point: California needs to give up its crusade to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions.
Mike Stanton, president and CEO of the Association of International Automobile Manufacturers, which represents almost all domestic and import automakers doing business in the U.S. and a longtime auto-industry rep in Washington, DC, said simply, "It's a little ridiculous," to have federal emissions standards, competing state emissions regulations, and the potential for even more conflict with California's CO2-regulating proposal.
He said the 14 manufacturers represented by the AIAM want "one national standard" for emissions regulation.
But he also said political winds appear to be blowing against their wishes. Both presidential candidates support granting California's waiver to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions.
"Neither candidate (Democratic Sen. Barack Obama and Republican Sen. John McCain) has been terribly supportive of us in the past," Stanton said. Either presents challenges to the AIAM's hope for sanity in the emissions-regulation structure, he added.
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- Scott Doggett August 13, 2008, 7:26 AM
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, Center for Automotive Research Management Briefing Seminars, CO2, Emissions, Fuel Economy, GHG, Greenhouse Gas
August 6, 2008
By Scott Doggett, Contributor
Mercedes-Benz U.S. International Inc. has sued Cobasys LLC and its parent companies, claiming the battery maker isn't delivering the battery packs it agreed to build for Mercedes' ML450 Hybrid (right) and as a result the German automaker might have to delay the launch of its planned hybrid SUV.
In a lawsuit filed last week in a U.S. District Court, Mercedes-Benz said it had scheduled the production launch of its new hybrid vehicle for June 2009, and that it had a contract with Cobasys in which that company agreed to supply 100 percent of the batteries for the ML450 and would do so "in due time."
The automaker also alleges that based on the contract, its engineers began working closely with Cobasys personnel to refine the specifications for the battery pack and Mercedes-Benz and its affiliates paid Cobasys approximately $6 million in connection with the development of the battery pack.
But according to the lawsuit, Cobasys notified Mercedes-Benz many months later that its owners -- Chevron Technology Venture LLC. and Ovionic Battery Company Inc. -- "had reached an impasse as to how to fund Cobasys."
As a result, Cobasys said it would not sign a purchase order Mercedes-Benz had presented for the battery packs months after Cobasys representatives signed the initial contract with the automaker.
The suit also says that Mercedes-Benz "understands that a buyer for Cobasys has now been located, and that a sale of Cobasys is now imminent."
Cobasys builds batteries for General Motors' mild hybrid sedans and, in June, GM officials said the American automaker was nearing a deal to buy Cobasys. However, no agreement has been announced.
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- Scott Doggett August 6, 2008, 10:04 AM
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, Chevron Technology Venture LLC, Cobasys, Fuel Economy, Fuel Efficient, Hybrid, Mercedes-Benz ML450 Hybrid, Mercedes-Benz U.S. International Inc., Ovionic Battery Company Inc, Saturn Aura Green Line, Saturn Vue Green Line
August 4, 2008
Auto dealers and consumer advocates told federal rulemakers today that a proposed 25 percent mandatory increase in fleetwide fuel economy standards is out of touch with importance buyers now give fuel-efficiency.
Mark Cooper, research director for the Consumer Federation of America, said rulemakers wrongly assumed U.S. drivers would continue to covet large trucks and SUVs, even though car buyers began moving to smaller, more fuel-efficient cars in 2004.
"The auto industry acts as if plummeting SUV and pickup truck sales are a new phenomena," he told the National Transportation Safety Board at a Washington public hearing. "The fact is, gas-guzzling-vehicle sales have been falling off a cliff for over three years. And yet the administration's proposed fuel economy standards presumes no fall and no cliff."
As a result, Cooper said, the proposed fleetwide fuel economy standard of 31.6 miles per gallon by 2015 would fail to meet consumer demands. According to a study performed by his organization, 59 percent of those surveyed want their next vehicle to get more than 35 mpg. Meanwhile, only 1 percent of new models offer that degree of fuel economy.
Adam Lee, president of Lee Auto Malls, which has a dozen Maine dealerships, said he has seen firsthand the shifting buying trends that have resulted in across-the-board losses for major carmakers.
Lee said he has laid off salespeople while waiting for automakers to produce the type of cars Americans want. "We just don't have the cars to sell," he said. "And I'm not just talking hybrids.... Consumers are waiting for good, old-fashioned small cars."
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- Scott Doggett August 4, 2008, 2:05 PM
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August 1, 2008
At right, an Exxon oil tanker.
Exxon Mobil Corp. this week broke its own record for the highest quarterly profit for a U.S. company, joining other major oil companies in posting stronger earnings on the back of sky-high oil prices.
The average price of a barrel of oil was slightly less than $125 US during the second quarter, nearly double last year, which also increased earnings at Royal Dutch Shell, Eni and Repsol.
Exxon's second-quarter net income rose 14 percent to $11.68 billion in the quarter - enough money to buy 179,692 new Cadillac Escalades or 15.57 billion individual Snickers chocolate bars
Exxon earned more than $128 million a day, or nearly $1,500 every second during the quarter. That was after the company paid $4,100 a second in taxes and $14,700 a second in business expenses.
Exxon's quarterly profit would be sufficient to buy Ford Motor Co., Gap Inc. or Starbucks, each of which have market capitalizations of $11.67 billion
Exxon released its quarterly report on Thursday - 36 days after the U.S. Supreme Court slashed the $2.5 billion punitive damages award in the Exxon Valdez oil spill disaster to $500 million.
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- Scott Doggett August 1, 2008, 7:54 AM
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July 29, 2008
Four Democratic senators called today for Stephen L. Johnson to resign as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and asked the U.S. attorney general to begin an investigation into whether he lied in testimony to a Senate committee.
The senators, all members of the Environment and Public Works Committee, said Johnson - a Bush appointee - had repeatedly succumbed to political pressure on decisions vital to protecting public health and the environment.
In a letter the senators sent today to Attorney General Michael Mukasey, they also allege that Johnson made false statements before the committee in January when he said that he alone had decided California should not be allowed to regulate the amount of greenhouse gases generated from new cars and trucks sold in the state.
A former top EPA official told the committee earlier this month that the administrator initially decided to grant a partial waiver to the state, but later changed his mind under pressure from the White House.
"We have lost all confidence in Stephen Johnson's ability to carry out EPA's mission under the law," Environment Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer, a Democratic senator from California, told reporters.
Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe, the environment committee's top Republican, issued a brief rebuttal today, saying, "This is simply more election-year politicking. Nothing more need be said."
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- Scott Doggett July 29, 2008, 5:49 PM
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, Clean Air Act, Environmental Protection Agency, GHG, Greenhouse Gas, President Bush, Stephen Johnson
July 28, 2008
By Scott Doggett, Contributor
Researchers seeking equitable alternatives to the lump-sum pricing practice of U.S. auto insurers may have stumbled upon a partial solution to global warming.
By linking payments to miles driven, the researchers suggested, motorists who do the greatest amount of driving each year would pay the most for insurance - all other things being equal - and those who drive the least would pay the least.
"Drivers who are similar in other respects - age, gender, location, driving safety record - pay nearly the same premiums if they drive 5,000 or 50,000 miles a year," Jason E. Bordoff and Pascal J. Noel wrote in a paper released today by The Brookings Institution.
"Just as an all-you-can-eat restaurant encourages more eating, all-can-drive insurance pricing encourages more driving," they wrote.
The current pricing system, as they see it, is inequitable because it forces low-mileage drivers to subsidize the insurance costs for high-mileage drivers, and low-income people drive fewer miles on average.
Their solution: pay-as-you-drive (or PAYD) auto insurance.
If all motorists paid for accident insurance per mile rather than in a lump sum, they would have an extra incentive to drive less, the researchers concluded. They estimated driving would decline by 8 percent nationwide, netting society the equivalent of about $50 billion to $60 billion a year, largely from reduced congestion and accidents.
But - and this is what really interests us - they also estimated the driving reduction would reduce carbon-dioxide emissions by 2 percent and oil consumption by about 4 percent.
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- Scott Doggett July 28, 2008, 6:43 PM
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July 24, 2008
The ethanol industry, until recently a golden child that got favorable treatment from Washington, is facing a critical decision on its future, the New York Times
reports today.
Gov. Rick Perry of Texas is asking the Environmental Protection Agency to temporarily waive regulations requiring the oil industry to blend ever-increasing amounts of ethanol into gasoline. A decision is expected in the next few weeks.
Perry says the billions of bushels of corn being used to produce all that mandated ethanol would be better suited as livestock feed than as fuel.
Feed prices have soared in the last two years as fuel has begun competing with food for cropland.
"When you find yourself in a hole, you have to quit digging," Perry said in an interview with the Times. "And we are in a hole."
His request for an emergency waiver cutting the ethanol mandate to 4.5 billion gallons, from the 9 billion gallons required this year and the 10.5 billion required in 2009, is backed by a coalition of food, livestock and environmental groups.
Naturally, farmers and ethanol and other biofuel producers are lobbying to keep the existing mandates. Corn growers and ethanol producers say they are being made scapegoats for failed economic and energy policies.
The Times report will bring you up to speed on the ethanol mandates if you've fallen a little behind.
Scott Doggett, Contributor
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- Scott Doggett July 24, 2008, 11:13 AM
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- Biofuels, Courts, Emissions, Ethanol, Fuel Economy, Legislation
July 21, 2008
By now most of us are aware of the pitfalls of ethanol, among them: It's raising food costs worldwide, it requires a tremendous amount of water, it produces less energy than gasoline while emitting more pollutants, it's contributing to rainforest deforestation, it's displacing valuable food crops, the fertilizers it requires are wiping out marine life. The list goes on.
But here's one pitfall this writer was unaware of: Ethanol is allowing Detroit's Big Three automakers to manufacture more gas-guzzling vehicles and as a result is making the U.S. more dependent on foreign oil, not less.
In his book "Gusher of Lies," Robert Bryce points out that the Big Three love ethanol because the automakers can use it to inflate the fuel-efficiency ratings of their cars artificially at a time when the federal government requires them to increase the corporate average fuel economy of their vehicle lines.
The CAFE rules allow for a complex formula that increases gas mileage by factoring in a percentage of ethanol use, but only counting the gasoline consumed. If, for example, the gasoline-ethanol variant of the Chevy Suburban used gas 52 percent of the time and ethanol 48 percent, it would have consumed a gallon of gas in the first 15 miles, then would be refilled with ethanol and would have used a gallon or so over the next 14 miles. But of the nearly 2 gallons consumed, only the gallon of gas would be counted.
So what does Bryce, a freelance journalist specializing in energy issues, suggest as an alternative fuel? Biodiesel derived from algae, solar and nuclear power to feed a grid that charges plug-in electric cars, and super-batteries that haven't been invented yet but likely would be soon if private foundations, the U.S. Department of Energy, or both offered a $1 billion prize to its inventor.
"Gusher of Lies" gives alt-fuel fans lots to think about. It lists for $27, but can be found at Amazon.com and other online stores for $10 less.
Scott Doggett, Contributor
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- Scott Doggett July 21, 2008, 8:56 AM
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July 19, 2008
By Dale Buss, Contributor
Everett Henley's family have been grease middlemen for four generations now, so he's not unduly flustered by new competition from "grease rustlers" who know that recent price jumps have turned the commodity into liquid gold.
Henley simply makes more of the theft-proof grease receptacles he designed and supplies them to the hundreds of restaurants in metro Houston whose waste vegetable oil and other drippings his Central Texas Grease Recycling Co. picks up.
When a would-be thief tries to siphon waste oil out of one of the four-by-six-foot steel containers, a system of snags designed by Henley rips up the siphon hose.
As a result, Henley's business remains largely unscathed in what he and others in the business view as growing problem: grease rustling.
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- Scott Doggett July 19, 2008, 12:30 AM
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- Alternative Fuels, Biofuels, Courts, Emissions, Fuel Economy
July 18, 2008
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain backtracked today on a pledge to set national auto emissions standards that would supersede those California and other states want to set, The Detroit News
reported
.
"I guess at the end of the day, I support the states being able to do that," the Arizona senator said at a town hall meeting at the GM Technical Center.
The Associated Press also reported McCain's change in stance. "I understand the labyrinth (automakers) have to navigate through," the AP quoted him saying today. "I'm not without sympathy."
McCain's statements today directly contradict a statement he made to reporters last month, when he said he hoped to set a national standard that would make state standards unnecessary.
"It seems to me the reason California went the way they did was because we, federally, failed to act to address greenhouse gas emissions," McCain told reporters on his campaign bus last month. "So my goal would be to see a federal standard that every state could embrace."
McCain, who has been courting Michigan's automakers, was addressing hundreds of General Motors Corp. engineers today at the ticket-only event. The auto-emissions issue is a huge one for carmakers, which say allowing states to set their own standards would cost them billions of dollars.
About a dozen states, led by California, have asked federal officials for permission to set standards on carbon emissions to combat climate change. Last year, the federal Environmental Protection Agency denied the request, and California has sued to challenge that decision.
Scott Doggett, Contributor
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- Scott Doggett July 18, 2008, 3:36 PM
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- Courts, Emissions, Fuel Economy, General Motors, Legislation
President Bush scrapped the EPA's well-developed plans to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions from motor vehicles, power plants, petroleum refiners and other major polluters at the urging of White House insiders who argued such a move would tarnish the president's legacy, a top former EPA official told congressional investigators this week.
Jason Burnett, a former adviser to EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson, detailed the Bush administration's behind-the-scenes efforts to respond to the Supreme Court's April 2007 decision in Massachusetts v. EPA, for Rep. Ed Markey's Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming.
The court ordered the federal government to consider greenhouse-gas emissions as pollutants subject to regulation under the Clean Air Act, but several administration officials fought EPA tooth-and-nail, Markey, a Democrat from Massachusetts, concludes in a report that combines Burnett's testimony with internal documents obtained under subpoena.
Although the administration took several significant steps toward regulating greenhouse-gas emissions, Bush ultimately backed down after hearing counter-arguments from the office of Vice President Dick Cheney, the Office of Management and Budget, the Transportation Department, Exxon Mobil Corp. and others in the oil industry, the report finds.
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- Scott Doggett July 18, 2008, 7:29 AM
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- Courts, Emissions, Fuel Economy, Legislation
July 11, 2008
The Bush administration rejected the idea today of using the Clean Air Act to regulate greenhouse gases as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released a rulemaking notice seeking public comment on the feasibility of such regulation.
"The potential regulation of greenhouse gases under any portion of the Clean Air Act could result in an unprecedented expansion of EPA authority that would have profound effects on virtually every sector of the economy," EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson said in an afternoon news teleconference.
"While EPA's staff has done an outstanding job making a square peg fit into a round hole," he said, "I believe the [rulemaking notice] demonstrates the Clean Air Act is ill-suited for the task of regulating global greenhouse gas emissions."
EPA's decision to seek public comment leaves the job of curbing greenhouse gas emissions -- mandated by the Supreme Court last year -- to the next president and Congress.
Congressional Democrats and environmentalists said today's developments showed that the Bush administration is more concerned with big-industry interests than it is about the environment.
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- Scott Doggett July 11, 2008, 3:15 PM
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- Courts, Emissions, Fuel Economy, Legislation
The Environmental Protection Agency valued "statistical life" at $6.9 million in today's dollars in May, a drop of nearly $1 million from just five years ago and a decline that could have drastic impacts on regulations, the Associated Press reported
late Thursday.
When crafting regulations, government agencies put a value on human life and then weigh the costs versus the lifesaving benefits of a proposed rule. The less a life is worth to the government, the less a regulation is needed, such as tighter pollution regulations.
Some environmentalists say the Bush administration altered the value to avoid stricter rules, but EPA denies the charge.
"It appears that they're cooking the books in regards to the value of life," said S. William Becker, executive director of the National Association of Clean Air Agencies, which represents state and local air pollution regulators. "Those decisions are literally a matter of life and death."
But agency officials said the adjustment was not significant and was based on economics. The environmental agency has traditionally placed the highest value of life among government agencies and still does, despite efforts by administrations to unify that figure throughout the agencies.
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- Scott Doggett July 11, 2008, 10:56 AM
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- Courts, Emissions, Legislation
July 9, 2008
Japanese labor officials determined that the lead engineer in the development of the Toyota Camry Hybrid was the victim of karÅshi
, literally "death from overwork," according to news reports from Tokyo today.
The 45-year-old man had been under extreme pressure and had worked more than 160 hours of overtime during the two months up to his death, according Mikio Mizuno, a lawyer representing the man's widow.
The victim, whose identity was being withheld at his family's request, was grappling with shipping a car to the Detroit auto show when he died of ischemic heart disease in January 2006. His daughter found him dead inside their home in Toyota City the day before he was to leave for the U.S.
The ruling, handed down on June 30, will allow his family to collect benefits from his work insurance, Mizuno said.
In a statement, Toyota Motor Corp. offered its condolences and said it would work to improve monitoring of the health of its workers.
Last year, a Japanese court ordered the government to pay compensation to Hiroko Uchino (above), the wife of a Toyota employee (far left, inset photo) who collapsed at work and died at age 30 in 2002. She took the case to court after her application to the local labor bureau for compensation was rejected.
Scott Doggett, Contributor
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- Scott Doggett July 9, 2008, 6:27 PM
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- Auto Shows, Courts, Emissions, Fuel Economy, Hybrid, Toyota
BMW plans to export nearly 500 electric versions of its popular Mini Cooper to California, which has some of the toughest tailpipe-emissions standards in the world, Automotive News Europe
reported Wednesday, citing company sources.
The electric Minis are being built at the Mini factory in Oxford, England, without engines, gearboxes or fuel tanks, then shipped to Munich, Germany, where they are being fitted with electric powertrains.
BMW sources told ANE, a subscription news service, that 490 of the Minis will be leased to selected customers in California and 10 will be used as showcars.
The electric Minis have been painted silver and have yellow roofs, the sources said.
BMW engineers working on the electric Minis are part of a new division called "Project i" established by the automaker to develop low-emissions city cars.
The electric Minis will help BMW to meet new California regulations that will require automakers selling vehicles in the state to offer zero-emissions vehicles.
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- Scott Doggett July 9, 2008, 8:26 AM
- Categories:
- BMW, Batteries, Courts, Emissions, Fuel Economy, Legislation, Plug-ins and Electric
July 8, 2008
London Mayor Boris Johnson announced today that he has scrapped the city's proposed £25 ($49.32) congestion charge for the most polluting vehicles.
Former mayor Ken Livingstone had planned to raise the daily tax from £8 ($15.78) to £25 in October, prompting Porsche to bring a legal challenge.
Under the plans, cars that emitted less than 120 grams per kilometer of carbon dioxide would have entered the zone for free. One study said the plan would encourage smaller vehicles to enter the zone, increasing congestion and pollution.
Johnson said abandoning the proposal would save London's transportation department £10 million ($19.73 million) earmarked for the scheme. He said his decision was in keeping with his aim to achieve a "fairer and more effective" congestion charge.
Livingstone told reporters the decision was a further blow to the efforts of many in London to tackle climate change and improve the environment.
Andy Goss, managing director of Porsche Cars Great Britain, said in a statement that "the charge was clearly unfair and was actually going to increase emissions in London."
A court ordered the transportation department to pay Porsche's six-figure legal costs.
Scott Doggett, Contributor
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- Scott Doggett July 8, 2008, 10:16 AM
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- Courts, Emissions, Fuel Economy, Porsche, Transportation Alternatives
July 1, 2008
By Scott Doggett, Contributor
A lobbying group for 10 major automakers including Detroit's Big Three, Toyota and Daimler urged federal regulators today to dramatically water down its proposal to hike fuel efficiency standards or run the risk of costing 82,000 autoworkers their jobs and the U.S. economy tens of billions of dollars.
In a thousand-page document filed today by the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, the automakers condemned the April 22 proposal by the U.S. Transportation Department that would boost fuel economy requirements to a fleetwide average of 31.6 miles per gallon by the 2015 model year.
That average includes 35.7 mpg for passenger cars and 28.6 mpg for light trucks. The nation's new passenger cars currently are required to meet a fleet average of 27.5 mpg, while the light-truck fleet - generally encompassing port utility vehicles, pickup trucks and vans - must hit a target average of 22.5 mpg.
"This goes beyond what is technologically feasible and economically practical," the automakers said. "It would require manufacturers to expend resources at a pace that is excessive given the fact that the auto industry is already under economic stress."
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- Scott Doggett July 1, 2008, 1:31 PM
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- BMW, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Courts, Daimler, Dodge, Emissions, Ford, Fuel Economy, Fuels & Technologies, General Motors, Legislation, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Mitsubishi, Porsche, Toyota, Volkswagen
June 27, 2008
A federal appeals court has refused to force the Bush administration to speed up a decision on whether greenhouse gases and global warming endanger public health and welfare.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on Thursday denied a petition asking it to order the Environmental Protection Agency to make the determination within 60 days.
You'll recall that on April 3rd, we reported that 12 states, three cities and 11 environmental groups petitioned an appellate court to order the agency to act on the higher court's ruling within 60 days...
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- Scott Doggett June 27, 2008, 11:19 AM
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- Courts, Emissions, Fuel Economy, Legislation
June 26, 2008
Storm, what storm? As long as the email's closed, we're good. Right?
By Scott Doggett, Contributor
The White House didn't like the conclusions the Environmental Protection Agency reached in a Supreme Court-mandated report on pollutants, so it simply refused to open the email containing those conclusions, according to The New York Times.
Instead, the Bush administration has pressured the agency into releasing a watered-down report that does not contain recommendations. Among the omissions: an analysis showing that tougher automotive emissions regulations could produce $500 billion to $2 trillion in economic benefits.
White House spokesman Tony Fratto refused to comment on discussions between the White House and the EPA. "It's the EPA that determines what analysis it wants to make available" in its documents, he said in denying White House meddling, the Times reported Wednesday.
But senior EPA officials reportedly said White House officials explicitly told them the document would not be opened. As it sat unread in at least one White House inbox, Congress passed a law mandating a 35 miles-per-gallon standard by 2020. The report urged a stricter 37.7 mpg by 2018.
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- Scott Doggett June 26, 2008, 12:17 AM
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- Courts, Emissions, Fuel Economy, Legislation
June 25, 2008
By John O'Dell, Senior Editor
In a stinging rebuke to automakers who had asked for more time to meet California's controversial greenhouse gas rules, a federal judge said Tuesday that the industry shouldn't be looking to the courts to save it from its own bad decision-making.
District Court Judge Anthony Ishii put it a bit more diplomatically, but that's the gist of his 15-page ruling.
The judge denied an industry request for a court order giving it extra time to comply with California's state-imposed limits on automotive greenhouse gas emissions if the state ever wins federal approval to do so.
His decision is important because while the Bush Administration's EPA administrator has denied California a waiver that is needed before the state can push ahead with its rules, both presumptive presidential nominees – the GOP's John McCain and the Democrats' Barack Obama – have said their administrations would let the state proceed.
That opens the door to big changes in air quality regulation and in automotive fuel economy once President Bush is out of office.
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- John O'Dell June 25, 2008, 2:44 PM
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- Courts, Emissions, Fuel Economy, Legislation
June 24, 2008
Congress is vowing to take actions that it believes will reverse runaway crude and gasoline prices. Oil rose above $136 a barrel on Monday – more than double what it cost a year ago – and gas hovered around $4.07 a gallon nationwide.
Lawmakers have introduced nine different bills on speculation, not to mention many more that tackle other causes of escalating fuel and oil prices. Several of the speculation measures have bipartisan support...
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- Scott Doggett June 24, 2008, 7:46 AM
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- Alternative Fuels, Biofuels, Courts, Diesel, Emissions, Ethanol, Flex-Fuel, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Legislation, Natural Gas, Plug-ins and Electric, Tax Incentives
June 20, 2008
President Bush asserted executive privilege today to withhold documents from a congressional investigation into whether he pressured the EPA to deny California's request to regulate vehicular greenhouse-gas emissions and to weaken the agency's new smog standard.
White House officials notified a House committee of the rare assertion about 15 minutes before the committee was to vote on holding EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson and White House budget official Susan Dudley in contempt of Congress for not providing the documents.
The committee's chairman, Democratic Rep. Henry Waxman of California, then canceled the vote while expressing skepticism over the privilege claim.
"I have a clear sense that their assertion of this privilege is self-serving and not based on the appropriate law and rules," Waxman said from the dais of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing room.
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- Scott Doggett June 20, 2008, 4:59 PM
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- Courts, Emissions, Fuel Economy, Legislation
California car shoppers will be able to gauge the environmental impact of the vehicles they are considering by looking at a label affixed to every model.
New state rules will require dealers to attach "environmental performance" rating stickers, such as the one above, to all new cars in their showrooms beginning with 2009 models – labeling is voluntary, however, until January 1.
The labels will carry separate rating numbers for smog and global warming (greenhouse gas) impact. Ratings will be on a 1-10 scale, with the highest scores representing the least impact, so a "9" will be greener than a "7."
The environmental label requirement is part of the state's attempt to "arm consumers with the information they need to choose a vehicle that saves gas, reduces greenhouse gas emissions and helps fight smog," California Air Resources Board Chairwoman Mary Nichols said in a statement...
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- Scott Doggett June 20, 2008, 12:09 PM
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- Courts, Emissions, Fuel Economy, Legislation
June 13, 2008
After months of asking the head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to turn over documents relating to his decision last year to deny California a waiver it needed to set its own automotive-emissions standards, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee agreed today to vote on a resolution to hold the administrator in contempt of Congress if the documents are not presented by June 20.
EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson (above, right) has been repeatedly asked – and has repeatedly refused – to submit those documents to that committee and another House committee, as well as documents the agency prepared in response to a U.S. Supreme Court decision issued more than a year ago that required the EPA to decide on whether to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions from motor vehicles under the federal Clean Air Act...
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- Scott Doggett June 13, 2008, 5:39 PM
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- Courts, Emissions, Legislation
Ya gotta read the fine print.
That's the message a judge sent
Tesla Motors Co.
this week when he agreed with
Fisker Automotive
that the dispute between the electric-car companies should be decided in arbitration.
Tesla sued
Fisker Automotive, CEO Henrik Fisker, a related design business and another executive April 14 in San Mateo Superior Court, alleging theft of trade secrets and poor design work – allegations Fisker
denied two weeks later
...
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- Scott Doggett June 13, 2008, 3:20 PM
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- Courts, Fisker, Fuel Economy, Plug-ins and Electric, Tesla
May 19, 2008
Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano has vetoed a bill that would have prevented her from adopting California's clean-car regulations for her state.
In a letter to House Speaker Jim Weiers, dated May 15, the Democratic governor said that House Bill 2017 "would have undercut the ability of the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality to fulfill its statutory responsibilities monitoring the health and quality of Arizona's air, land and water."
As we reported earlier, proponents of the bill contend it would eliminate a regulatory "patchwork" that would create hardships for consumers and businesses. Opponents say that's nonsense, noting that individual states are limited to just two choices: follow federal rules or California rules.
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- Scott Doggett May 19, 2008, 11:52 AM
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- Courts, Emissions, Fuel Economy, Legislation
May 14, 2008
We don't intend to make a habit of writing about every twist and turn in the Tesla vs. Fisker trade secrets lawsuit, but because of the high level of interest in both of the electric car companies thought we ought to let you know that Fisker is seeking to toss the whole thing into arbitration.
That would take the case out of the courtroom, limit public access and likely result in a sealed settlement. It also could save both sides considerable time and, possibly, money.
Tesla would not comment when contacted today.
Southern California-based
Fisker Automotive filed its arbitration request Tuesday in a Northern California court, near
Tesla Motors Co. headquarters.
A court hearing has been scheduled for June 11.
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- John O'Dell May 14, 2008, 5:13 PM
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- Courts, Fisker, Plug-ins and Electric, Tesla
April 25, 2008
He waited almost two weeks, but Fisker Automotive's Henrik Fisker finally has responded to a lawsuit by electric roadster maker Tesla Motors that accuses him of stealing company secrets.
Didn't do it, he says in a press release issued this morning. Specifically, he called the Tesla suit "nonsense."
We said when Tesla filed its suits last week that it looked like the opening of a new era as formerly cooperative EV developers finally see a market opportunity and begin battling one another for a piece of the pie.
That's born out in Fisker's response to the suit, which doesn't open with the denial but instead with the statement that his company "is on track for delivery of the Fisker Karma" in the fourth quarter of next year.
Only after getting in that little bit of marketing news did Fisker acknowledge and respond to Tesla's suit.
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- John O'Dell April 25, 2008, 11:00 AM
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- Courts, Fisker, Plug-ins and Electric, Tesla
April 15, 2008
Henrik Fisker, showing concept car to prospective investors earlier this year.
By Scott Doggett, Contributor
The once-collegial world of alternative-fuel automobiles seems to be entering a new and highly competitive phase as interest in hybrids and electric vehicles grows.
The latest sign that the era of cooperation is ending came Monday as Tesla Motors, maker of the only highway-capable production electric car for sale in the United States, filed a lawsuit against competitor Fisker Automotive, its chief executive, Henrik Fisker, its chief operating officer, Bernhard Koehler, and their design company, Fisker Coachbuild, for allegedly stealing some of Tesla's design ideas and trade secrets.
A spokesman for Fisker Automotive said today that the company had "no comment at this time."
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- John O'Dell April 15, 2008, 5:09 PM
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- Courts, Fisker, Plug-ins and Electric, Tesla
April 3, 2008
On the one-year anniversary of a Supreme Court ruling that the Environmental Protection Agency must regulate greenhouse gases in automobile emissions unless it can provide a scientific basis for refusal, 12 states, three cities and 11 environmental groups on Wednesday petitioned an appellate court to order the agency to act on the higher court's ruling within 60 days.
The petition came less than a week after EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson informed Congress that he will seek public comment on the implications greenhouse gas rules would have for other agency regulations covering emissions from power plants, factories, schools and many other entities. The move was widely regarded as a stalling tactic to enable the Bush administration to avoid taking steps to establish greenhouse gas regulations. (See earlier story.)
The petitioning states are California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington...
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- John O'Dell April 3, 2008, 10:28 AM
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- Courts, Emissions
April 2, 2008
By Scott Doggett, Contributor
It appears that the Bush Administration will be out of office long before the Environmental Protection Agency takes any of the steps ordered by the Supreme Court one year ago today in a ruling that said the agency has the authority to regulate carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in automobile emissions, and cannot sidestep that authority unless it can provide a scientific basis for its refusal.
The 5-to-4 decision in Massachusetts v. EPA
was a strong rebuke to the administration, which had maintained that the EPA did not have the right to regulate the heat-trapping gases under the Clean Air Act, and that even if it did, it would not use the authority as a matter of policy.
While the court did not require the EPA to regulate automotive greenhouse gas emissions, it said the only way the agency could "avoid taking further action" was "if it determines that greenhouse gases do not contribute to climate change" or provides a good explanation why it cannot or will not find out whether they do.
With the anniversary of the court's decision only days away, EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson informed Congress in a letter last Thursday that instead of acting, he will seek public comment on the implications greenhouse gas rules would have for other agency regulations covering missions from everything from power plants and factories to schools and small businesses.
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- John O'Dell April 2, 2008, 5:05 AM
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- Courts, Emissions
February 29, 2008
By Scott Doggett, ContributorEPA Administrator Stephen Johnson signed off on a
notice Friday finalizing his rejection of California's request for a waiver to the Clean Air Act that would have allowed it and other states to impose their own automotive greenhouse-gas emissions regulations.
The formal decision, which reiterates positions Johnson has taken since Dec. 19, when he initially announced his refusal to grant the waiver, was immediately denounced by environmental groups, state officials and Sen. Barbara Boxer, a Johnson foe and chairwoman of the Senate committee that oversees the EPA.
The issue is important far beyond California's borders because 18 other states have adopted or have signaled intent to adopt the regulations California wants to impose.
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- John O'Dell February 29, 2008, 5:20 PM
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- Courts, Emissions, Legislation
January 9, 2008
By Scott Doggett, Contributor
A number of environmentalists and state officials will testify at an informal federal hearing Thursday in Los Angeles in a bid to bolster support for California's effort to set greenhouse gas emissions standards for motor vehicles sold in the state -- a move the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rejected last month.
But the head of the EPA has turned down an invitation to appear and explain why he rejected the state's effort.
Thursday's hearing, called by Sen. Barbara Boxer, precedes far more formal hearings to be held in Washington by the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, which Boxer chairs, and the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, chaired by Congressman Henry A. Waxman. Both are California Democrats.
The Los Angeles session and the two Washington hearings – the Senate session set for January 24, the House session as yet unscheduled -- stem from EPA Administer Stephen L. Johnson's December 19 decision to deny California a waiver from following federal air quality rules.
The waiver would have permitted the state to write its own regulations to reduce global-warming emissions from cars and trucks certified for sale in California beginning with the 2009 model year.
Boxer had hoped to use Thursday's hearing to grill Johnson, who claimed he based his decision on California's alleged failure to meet certain criteria required for a waiver under the federal Clean Air Act.
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- John O'Dell January 9, 2008, 7:00 AM
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- Courts, Emissions, Fuel Economy, Legislation
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