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The clean cars rule would help bring less polluting cars, like this hybrid, to Pennsylvania.
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Despite the environmental and public health
threats posed by air pollution in Pennsylvania,
a handful of state legislators are working
to prevent the implementation of a clean cars
program. This program would drastically cut
smog and global warming emissions in the
Commonwealth.
Without public hearings—or input from environmental
or public health experts—Rep.
Richard Geist (R-Altoona) introduced legislation
that would effectively bar the Pennsylvania
Department of Environmental Protection
(DEP) from implementing the Pennsylvania
Clean Vehicles program. This legislation
is one of the most dangerous anti-clean
air proposals introduced in the state House in
recent memory.
With air pollution triggering 370,000 asthma
attacks each year in Pennsylvania, PennEnvironment
has been working with state regulators
to implement the clean cars program.
Once implemented, the program would require
car manufacturers to include advanced
pollution control technologies on many new
cars sold in Pennsylvania, which would cut
smog and global warming pollution while
saving consumers money at the gas pump.
“Pennsylvanians better start holding their
breath,” said PennEnvironment Director
David Masur. “With the numerous public
health and environmental problems triggered
by air pollution from cars, it is shocking
that some of our politicians would push to
weaken rather than strengthen clean air
regulations.”
Upon hearing news of the anti-clean cars
legislation (House Bill 2141), PennEnvironment quickly alerted our membership and generated
over 1,000 e-mail messages into legislators
from citizens across the state. PennEnvironment
advocates also garnered media attention for this
issue statewide and met with numerous legislators
in Harrisburg on the subject.
A strong coalition of groups is united with
PennEnvironment to oppose the anti-clean cars
legislation, including the American Lung Association
of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania PTA,
Physicians for Social Responsibility, the Pennsylvania
Council of Churches, and Citizens
for Consumer Justice, as well as environmental
groups such as Citizens for Pennsylvania’s
Future, Sierra Club and Clean Air Council.
DEP is working this year to implement the clean
cars program, as part of a directive issued under
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge in 1998.
If implemented, emissions of smog-forming pollution from cars and
trucks in Pennsylvania would be cut by approximately 10 percent, while
emissions of the global warming pollutant carbon dioxide would be cut
by nearly 25 percent, as compared to a weaker federal program..
Moreover, because cleaner automobiles are generally more fuel efficient
automobiles, the new standards will ensure that new cars and trucks in
Pennsylvania go farther on a gallon of gas, helping to ease the pain of
high gas prices for consumers at the pump. Ten other states, including
New York and New Jersey, are already in the process of implementing
similar standards.
Smog is considered to be one of the worst air pollutants plaguing the
Commonwealth. It causes a host of respiratory problems, including
asthma attacks in young children. Even in healthy adults, smog causes
breathing difficulties, increased congestion, and other problems during
outdoor exercise. Over half of Pennsylvania counties currently fail to
comply with the federal Clean Air Act because of high smog levels, and
cars and trucks are responsible for a third of the smog-forming pollution
created in Pennsylvania.
At the time that this newsletter was going to print, the anti-clean cars
legislation had yet to receive a vote in either the House or the Senate,
although it had been passed out of the state House Transportation Committee
and Appropriations Committee.
PennEnvironment will work in the coming months to ensure that this
and any other legislative attempts to stop the clean cars program are
defeated, enabling the state to enact the Clean Vehicles Program and
bring cleaner cars to Pennsylvania. |
