PASSED! California Clean Car Campaign
Update: The Green Chamber of Commerce is Excited to Announce A California Clean Car Campaign Success! See their press release below from January 27th regarding the passage of this landmark legislation from The California Air Resources Board!
IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 27, 2012
Top Business, Consumer, Health, Environmental, Community Leaders Applaud New,
Strong Clean Cars Standards
Media Contact: Christina Haro, 415.453.0430
SACRAMENTO, CA –By a unanimous vote, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) today adopted a strong suite of new Clean Cars Standards designed to drive the creation of advanced vehicle technology, cut air pollution and save consumer dollars. The California Clean Cars Campaign is pleased to issue the following statement in response to the vote:
“As members of the California Clean Cars Campaign, representing hundreds of businesses, consumer advocates, public health organizations, unions, faith groups, and dozens of California cities, counties, and mayors, we whole-heartedly applaud this action. The new standards will save consumers money, cut dangerous air pollution, and support the creation of new jobs and investment in the fast-growing clean energy economy.”
The Campaign is led by a diverse Advisory Committee and four Co-Chairs: Wendy Greuel, Controller, City of Los Angeles, Bruce Klafter, Managing Director-Worldwide Operations and Head-Corporate
Responsibility & Sustainability, Applied Materials, ? Ken McEldowney, Executive Director, Consumer Action, and ? Jane Warner, President and CEO, American Lung Association in California.
Earlier this week, the Campaign voiced its strong support for the new standards in an ad in the Los Angeles Times. Signatories of the ad include the cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco, unions representing electrical workers and teachers, business groups ranging from Small Business Majority to the California Ski Industry Association, and health groups including the California branches of the American Lung Association, American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association, and the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America.CARB projects that the standards will save drivers about $4,000 over the life of a next- generation clean car. According to the American Lung Association in California, the standards will prevent more than 400 premature deaths a year.
List of the Clean Cars Campaign Advisory Committee, Click here.
About The California Clean Cars Campaign
The California Clean Cars Campaign is comprised of public health leaders, consumer groups, businesses, local governments, elected officials, organized labor, faith groups, environmental organizations, and other diverse constituencies that support the strongest possible standards for California’s groundbreaking Clean Cars Program. Bringing the next generation of advanced, clean cars into the driveways of California families will help to reduce our dependence on oil, save consumers money, reduce air pollution, and support new jobs and investment in the state’s clean energy economy. Visit us at: www.calcleancars.org.
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The Green Chamber of Commerce Endorses The California Clean Cars Campaign
California is an established leader in environmental standards, especially in vehicle requirements. The California Clean Car Campaign is a consortium of consumer, health, business, government, faith, and environmental leaders supporting the California Clean Cars Program. They officially launched on June 9, 2011 . The Campaign aims to promote the California Clean Cars Program and push for tighter environmental standards for the 2017-2025 model cars.
The California Clean Cars Program is the program responsible for updating core vehicle requirements. It contains three sub-parts: the Low Emission Vehicle Program, the Zero Emission Vehicle Program (started in 1990), and the Clean Fuels Outlet (started in 1990). The Clean Cars Program will update the Low Emission Vehicle Program to decrease the greenhouse gases and criteria pollutants each car is allowed to produce. The Clean Fuels Outlet aims to make sure there are an appropriate amount of fueling stations that will serve alternative fuels and vehicles (such as hydrogen fuel cells and electric public charging stations) to make owning an alternative vehicle as easy to refuel as a traditional gas or diesel powered vehicle.
The California Clean Cars Program will release the full statues for model years 2017-2025 on September 1, 2011. The federal Environmental Protection Agency has decided to coincide their release of federal standards with the same day as California standards. This may imply the federal Environmental Protection Agency is working closely with California to define the federal standards.
The Sacramento Bee reports the California standards will require average fuel economy to increase by 6% per year, and lower emissions by 6% per year. This would bring the average fuel economy to over 60 mile per gallon by 2025. In addition, this increases the market for alternative fuels and electic cars. Clean Cars Campaign reports that this will lower consumer costs and bring jobs and investment to California.
The California Clean Cars Program is under the direction of the California Environmental Protection Agency. Each state contains its own Environmental Protection Agency, which is responsible for monitoring and enforcing program standards . The federal Environmental Protection Agency sets minimum compliance requirements for the states must base their requirements on, but the states get to decide whether they will take exactly the federal requirements, or as in the case of California, make the requirements stricter. In the past, California has set more strict requirements compared to the federal requirements. Many other states have tended to adopt California standards; Federal requirements have followed later as well.
The largest driving factor behind the California Clean Cars Program is human health concerns. Passenger cars and trucks are the largest producers of air pollution. According to the American Lung Association, California could avoid:
- 400-420 premature deaths
- 8,075 to 8,440 asthma attacks and lower respiratory symptoms
- 390 to 405 heart attacks
- 420 to 440 respiratory ER visits and cardio/respiratory hospitalizations
- 28,100 to 29,300 lost work days
- 8,800 to 9,500 missed school days
The American Lung Association reports previous reductions in pollution have proven successful to increasing population health. There is, however, still work to be done. The California Clean Car Program will help to continue to decrease pollution-related deaths and illnesses.
The Green Chamber of Commerce proudly supports the Clean Cars Campaign and currently has a Green Chamber representative serving on the Campaign’s advisory committee.
