Court Rejects Bush
Administration Attempt to Delay Alternative Fuels Vehicles Purchase Plan for
Federal and Private Fleets
April 03, 2006 — By the Center for Biological Diversity
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — Following an earlier ruling on March 6th finding the
U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in violation of its obligations under the Energy
Policy Act of 1992 ("Act"), District Court Judge William Alsup on March 30th
rejected further government delay and ordered the DOE to finally come into
compliance with the Act within 2 years, by mandating a long-overdue plan for
significant federal purchases of alternative fuels vehicles (AFVs). In 2002 and
2005, Judge Alsup declared the Bush administration and over a dozen federal
agencies in violation of the Act, a law designed to reduce dependence on foreign
oil, lessen global warming and cut air pollution. The Court rejected a Bush
administration rulemaking that federal agencies cannot take action because
petroleum reduction goals mandated by the Act are unachievable and yesterday
denied a request for an additional 4 years of delay. It instead ordered the DOE
to revise the petroleum reduction goal to an achievable number within one year,
and then make a new determination whether the AFVs purchase rules must apply to
private and municipal vehicle fleets to help achieve the goal, potentially
requiring the purchase of hundreds of thousands of additional AFVs.
"Urgent action is needed to reduce our dependence on oil, cut pollution and
address the impacts of global warming, which threatens our health, environment
and future prosperity," said Peter Galvin, Conservation Director for the Center
for Biological Diversity. "We are pleased the Court has ordered an end to the
Bush administration's foot-dragging on converting federal and private vehicle
fleets to more fuel efficient and less polluting vehicles."
"The DOE has been stonewalling progress on alternative fuel vehicles for years,"
said Danielle Fugere, Global Warming Director for Bluewater Network. Yesterday's
ruling follows an almost identical ruling in 2002, in which the DOE was ordered
by Judge Alsup to develop a legal plan for compliance with the alternative fuel
vehicle purchasing mandates, in response to lawsuit filed in 2000 by the Center
for Biological Diversity and Bluewater Network. DOE was brought back into court
in 2005 by these same groups after failing for a second time to comply with its
obligations under the Act.
In passing the Act after the first Gulf War, Congress intended to replace 30
percent of petroleum vehicle fuel use with alternative fuels by 2010, through
federal purchase of less polluting vehicles, and by harnessing the purchasing
power of the federal government to spur the market for natural gas, propane,
ethanol and electric vehicles, which produce less pollution and greenhouse gas
emissions. The Act requires all federal agencies with light duty fleet vehicles
in major metropolitan areas to acquire at least 75 percent AFVs each year
instead of traditional petroleum-fueled cars and trucks. The federal government
has over 600,000 vehicles, the largest fleet in the nation. In November 2005,
settlement of the purchasing component of the lawsuit was reached with the
Departments of Commerce, Labor, Transportation and Veterans Administration,
which admitted violations and agreed to increase their current AFVs acquisitions
(46, 3, 29, and 24 percent, respectively) up to the required 75 percent.
Air pollution from petroleum fueled vehicles causes numerous harmful effects on
human health, including respiratory problems, heart and lung diseases, and
premature death. Motor vehicles emit several hazardous pollutants that the
Environmental Protection Agency classifies as known or probable human
carcinogens. For example, over 90 percent of Californians live in regions
adversely affected by air quality problems, largely as a result of vehicle
exhaust. Long-term exposure to air pollution in four San Francisco Bay Area
counties may cause an additional 208 cases of cancer for every million
residents, mostly attributable to benzene and butadiene, byproducts of petroleum
fuel combustion.
Conventional petroleum fueled vehicles release greenhouse gas pollution which
causes global warming. Global average air temperatures have already increased by
over 1° F and are projected to rise between 2.5 and 10.5° F or more by the end
of this century, an unprecedented magnitude and speed of change. Other changes
caused by greenhouse gas pollution and global warming include increasing numbers
of droughts and floods, increasing weather variability and more intense storms,
the melting of sea ice, glaciers, and sea level rise. The U.S. is responsible
for approximately 25 percent of the total world oil consumption, with
approximately 65 percent of that amount used for transportation. Overall, the
U.S. also produces nearly one quarter of the world's total greenhouse gases.
Global warming severely threatens the world's biodiversity. Half of all species
studied have already experienced profound changes in the timing of lifecycles,
range, or population numbers from the 1° F global average temperature increase
that has already occurred. Global warming is already responsible for one of the
largest vertebrate extinction events of the last 100 years, the extinction of
67% of 110 species of the Monteverde harlequin frog group in Central and South
America. In this instance, the amphibian extinctions were caused by the chytrid
fungus, a disease which exploded as global warming created ideal conditions for
its growth. The leading study on the quantification of extinction risk,
published in the world's leading journal Science in 2004, predicts that 35
percent of about 1,100 species studied will be committed to extinction by the
year 2050 if current levels of greenhouse gas emissions continue. Many species
could be saved if greenhouse gas emissions are reduced. Cuts of 80 percent are
needed from industrialized nations in order to stabilize atmospheric levels of
greenhouse gases, and ultimately stabilize the climate system.
For more information about the Act, global warming, and the benefits of
alternative fuel vehicles, visit
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/swcbd/programs/policy/energy/index.html.
The Center for Biological Diversity is a non-profit conservation organization
with over 18,000 members dedicated to the protection of imperiled species and
their habitats.
Contact Info:
Peter Galvin
Center for Biological Diversity
Tel: (520) 907-1533
Email:
pgalvin@biologicaldiversity.org
Jeff Miller,
Center for Biological Diversity
Tel: (510) 499-9185
Email:
jmiller@biologicaldiversity.org
Danielle Fugere,
Bluewater Network/Friends of the Earth
Tel: (415) 544-0790 x15
Jay Tutchton, Esq.,
University of Denver, College of Law
Tel: (303) 871-6034
Website :
the Center for Biological Diversity