Washington State to sue EPA over tailpipe emissions

Governor Chris Gregoire rejected EPA Administrator Steven Johnson's argument that allowing states to adopt their own standards would result in a "confusing patchwork" of regulations across the nation.

The state of Washington will join a lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency after it refused to allow California and other states to limit tailpipe greenhouse gas emissions from cars, trucks and SUVs, Gov. Chris Gregoire said Thursday.

Gregoire rejected EPA Administrator Steven Johnson's argument that allowing states to adopt their own standards would result in a "confusing patchwork" of regulations across the nation. Johnson denied a waiver for the states Wednesday, saying the Bush administration is moving forward with a "clean national solution" to the problem.

"We have 16 states already that have adopted the California standard," Gregoire said in a briefing. Those 16 states alone account for at least half the vehicles sold in the United States, she said.

In fact, 12 other states, including ­Washington and Oregon, have adopted the California standard, which is far more stringent than any current federal rule. The governors of four other states have said they plan to adopt it.

Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski and the Western Environmental Law Center, a public interest law firm, announced Wednesday that they would go to court to force the EPA to grant the waiver.

"The states are laboratories," Gregoire said. "We still have states' rights in this country. We've been trying to lead because the federal government hasn't led. For them to come in now and obstruct our ability is simply wrong."

Gregoire: Climate changing

In denying the waiver, the first in 40 years, Johnson said there were no "compelling and extraordinary circumstances" that would justify letting California and the other states move forward with rules requiring new vehicles to meet strict greenhouse gas emission standards beginning in 2009.

Gregoire begged to differ.

"Coastal states are dramatically affected because our greatest nemesis is the automobile," she said in an interview with The Columbian's editorial board. Already, she said, she's convinced that Washington is witnessing the effects of global climate change.

"Something is wrong when I have a declaration of emergency every year," the governor said. "It used to be rare. Now it's annual. I will tell you right now we'll have a drought next year in Eastern Washington. We had a dramatic flood one year ago in November," and another this month, she said.

Gregoire traced the history of litigation surrounding the states' efforts to adopt tough tailpipe emission standards that regulate both traditional pollutants and heat-trapping carbon dioxide in the face of opposition from the Bush administration.

"You may recall that the EPA had decided it did not have regulatory authority over CO 2 emissions," she said. "That went all the way to the Supreme Court, which in April issued an opinion saying, 'Yes, you do have regulatory authority. Get busy with your job.' "

The auto industry then filed two lawsuits, arguing that states could not regulate greenhouse gas emissions, Gregoire said. Both resulted in decisions by federal courts upholding the states' authority to pass such rules.

"We then collectively brought a lawsuit against the EPA because the waiver (application) had been sitting there for two years," Gregoire said. "We said, 'Please do your job. Make a decision.'"

Gregoire, a former three-term state attorney general, predicted that the states will prevail in the new lawsuit as well. "I'll bet you we win," she said. "I'll bet you we have the authority."

Enacting the California standard would have the effect of removing 690,000 cars from Washington's roads by 2020, state air quality officials said.

Congress this week passed an energy bill that requires American autos to achieve a fleet-wide average of 35 miles per gallon by 2020. But California officials say their rule would result in a 36-mpg average four years earlier and would regulate a broader spectrum of greenhouse gases.

Gregoire said she had no problem with the fuel efficiency standard in the energy bill, but it didn't go far enough.

"For fundamental things like our reliance on foreign oil, we ought to be able to have automobiles in this country that get greater mileage," she said.

The governor's climate change panel is expected to release a series of recommendations for the Legislature today designed to reduce the state's greenhouse gas footprint.

Gregoire said the EPA ruling won't derail that process.

"We've got to move forward," she said. "But I don't know how we achieve our goals in a timely way now."