From: Reuters
Published January 26, 2009 09:58 AM
Obama acts to reverse Bush climate moves: officials
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama will start reversing
former President George W. Bush's climate change policies on Monday with
steps to raise fuel efficiency standards and grant states authority to limit
greenhouse gas emissions from cars.
An administration official said late on Sunday that Obama, who took office
last week, would direct the Environmental Protection Agency to reconsider a
request by California to impose its own strict limits on automobile carbon
dioxide emissions.
The request was denied under the Bush administration, prompting California
and several other states to sue. The official said a final decision by the
EPA would likely take several months.
Another official familiar with the policy shift said Obama would instruct
the EPA to approve the waiver allowing California to impose the rules. The
state asked the new administration last week to reconsider its request.
If the EPA reverses the previous ruling, more than 12 U.S. states could
proceed with plans to impose strict carbon dioxide limits.
California wants to reduce the emissions by 30 percent by 2016 -- the most
ambitious federal or state effort to address global warming.
Ailing carmakers, which have accelerated efforts to build more
environmentally friendly vehicles, have fought the California statute, but
braced for a policy reversal once Obama won the November 4 election.
Obama promised on the campaign trail to take aggressive action to fight
global warming and reduce emissions blamed for heating the earth. He is
scheduled to deliver remarks on jobs, energy independence and climate change
in the East Room of the White House on Monday.
FUEL EFFICIENCY
The White House official said Obama would also direct the Department of
Transportation to move forward with setting 2011 vehicle fuel efficiency
standards by March.
The president's memorandum would instruct the agency to reconsider how such
standards are set for later years in a separate process, he said.
The Bush administration sought to finish the fuel efficiency regulation by
December, but took no action due to the uncertain financial prospects of
U.S. automakers.
Automakers, including big foreign manufacturers, have opposed the California
waiver on grounds that approving it would create a confusing patchwork of
state rules based on tailpipe emissions.
The California statute was intended to take effect for 2009 model year
vehicles already in showrooms, while the federal government, according to
Obama's order, will have its own new efficiency rules in place by March for
cars made between 2011-2015. The federal standards are considered weaker.
Activists welcomed the moves.
"These actions are a clear demonstration that President Obama recognizes
the urgency of moving America to clean energy and tackling the climate
crisis in 2009," said Frances Beinecke, president of the Natural Resources
Defense Council.
California Sen. Barbara Boxer, who chairs the Senate Environment and Public
Works Committee, promised to work with the EPA to ensure the California
waiver moved forward quickly.
Obama has spent his first few days in office overturning his predecessor's
policies. On Thursday, he signed an order to close the U.S. prison at
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, within a year and he lifted restrictions on Friday on
U.S. government funding for groups that provide abortion services abroad.
Shortly after his victory in the November 4 election, Obama reiterated his
commitment to bringing the United States firmly back into the fold of
nations trying to reach a global agreement to limit emissions once the first
phase of the Kyoto Protocol runs out at the end of 2012.
(Additional reporting by JoAnne Allen and John Crawley)
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