Aug. 29, 2003
In U.S. Supreme Court Case
The federal government today joined a lawsuit in U.S. Supreme Court that
seeks to overturn the Southland’s “clean fleet rules,” one of the region’s most
important and innovative tools for reducing smog-forming and toxic air
pollution.
“This is the third strike in one month launched by the federal government
against clean air in Southern California,” said Barry Wallerstein, executive
officer for the South Coast Air Quality Management District.
“We are experiencing our smoggiest summer in more than five years, and the
federal government is trying to take away the very tools we need to protect the
health of 16 million Southern Californians.”
The U.S. Department of Justice filed an amicus (friend of the court) brief
today in the U.S. Supreme Court urging the court to overturn AQMD’s clean fleet
rules. The Western States Petroleum Association, a trade association of major
oil companies, and the Engine Manufacturers Association, which includes several
diesel engine manufacturers, originally brought the lawsuit in U.S. District
Court. After AQMD prevailed in that court and the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals,
the plaintiffs appealed to the Supreme Court, which is expected to hear the case
in early December.
AQMD’s clean fleet rules, adopted in 2000 and 2001, include seven measures
requiring fleet operators of transit buses, school buses, trash trucks, airport
shuttles and taxis, street sweepers and heavy-duty utility trucks to buy
clean-fueled models when they replace vehicles or add to their fleet. The rules
have resulted in the replacement of hundreds of highly polluting diesel-powered
vehicles with cleaner-burning natural gas and other alternative-fuel models.
Plaintiffs and now the federal government argue that under the federal Clean
Air Act, states and local jurisdictions are prohibited from establishing their
own emission standards for new motor vehicles.
“AQMD’s fleet rules do not set emission standards,” Wallerstein said. “They
simply ask fleet operators to choose from among the cleanest engines that are
commercially available.”
Each of AQMD’s fleet rules exempts fleet operators if they can demonstrate
that the specific model they need is not commercially available in a clean-fuel
version.
In today’s legal brief, the federal government also argued that under the
Clean Air Act, AQMD must petition the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for
permission to adopt its own emission standard to new vehicles. AQMD maintains
that this is unnecessary since its fleet rules do not constitute an emissions
standard.
Today’s action is the third time in the last month the federal government has
attempted to obstruct Southern California’s efforts to move forward with its
clean air program.
In early August, AQMD adopted its 2003 Air Quality Management Plan, a
blueprint for clean air by 2010 that will require substantial emission
reductions from sources such as trains, planes and ships under the sole
jurisdiction of the federal government. The U.S. EPA refused to commit to any
specific emission reduction measures in AQMD’s plan.
Just this week, EPA announced sweeping changes to the so-called “New Source
Review” program, a major clean air program aimed at ensuring that large
factories and businesses install the best available air pollution controls when
they expand or modify their equipment. EPA’s new rules in many cases will allow
facilities to expand without using the best available air pollution control
equipment. AQMD in February sued EPA over an earlier relaxation to the program.
“For years, the federal government has threatened to impose harsh sanctions
on Southern California’s economy, including the revocation of billions of
dollars of highway construction funds, if the region does not meet federal clean
air standards by 2010,” Wallerstein said.
“Instead of doing their best to help us achieve this goal, they are putting
roadblocks in our path.”
AQMD is the air pollution control agency for Orange County and major portions
of Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside counties.
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