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ShareWASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency reversed a Bush administration ruling Tuesday and cleared the way for California and at least 13 other states, including New York and Washington, to impose restrictions on automobile greenhouse gas emissions that exceed federal limits.
The move dovetails with the Obama administration’s plan for implementing new national vehicle emissions standards. The plan, which was announced last month, emerged after negotiations with automakers, California and other states.
Under the administration’s framework for national standards, modeled after California’s rules, the state would delay until 2017 any future moves to tighten its standards, and automakers would cease court challenges.
Environmental advocates hailed the EPA’s decision.
Roland Hwang, transportation program director for the Natural Resources Defense Council, said the move “puts the federal seal of approval on California’s leadership to curb global warming pollution from tailpipe emissions.”
“These standards will play a pivotal role in helping the auto industry … make the cars we need for America’s clean energy future,” Hwang said.
Under the California rules, emissions of greenhouse gases blamed for global warming would be cut by 30 percent by 2016.
California’s tailpipe emissions standards also are slated to apply in the District of Columbia and 13 other states — including New York, Washington and Connecticut. Those regulations would cover an estimated 40 percent of the vehicles on U.S. roadways even as the federal government develops new nationwide emissions limits.
Administration officials have said more-energy-efficient vehicles could translate to less imported oil and cleaner skies.
Emissions from motor vehicles make up roughly a quarter of the nation’s total greenhouse gas emissions.
But automakers had warned about the prospect of a patchwork of widely varying state standards and have said the emissions limits will raise the price tag for new cars and light trucks.
The federal government — specifically the EPA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration — are set to soon launch the rulemaking process for the national emissions limits, with a plan to finish by next March 30. Under the parameters the White House outlined last month, the national program would apply to model years 2012 through 2016.
The EPA’s decision was delivered as Congress considers sweeping legislation to combat climate change by capping greenhouse gas emissions from stationary sources, such as factories and power plants.
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