Auto Blog: MPG , Legislation and Policy , Green Daily Photo by BohPhoto . Licensed under Creative Commons license 2.0. Big news on the emissions regulation front today. For years, California has been in the driver’s seat (or at least the co-pilot’s chair) when it comes to American emissions regulations thanks to the grandfathered ability of the state to define its own rules. These rules were almost always stricter (i.e., cleaner) than the federal government’s. Since about a dozen states then adopt California’s regulations as their own, something the auto industry just hates , there are basically two sets of regulations in play in the U.S. In December 2007, the Bush Administration stopped California’s ability to enforce its own laws by denying the state a waiver that would have allowed it to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. The Bushies really didn’t like what California was doing. Four years ago, California enacted a law that required automakers to reduce their average fleet greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent in a decade. While the dozen states have been waiting to implement the California law, everyone needed to wait until EPA issued that waiver in order to start. With the Obama Administration now in charge, it looks like the waiver may finally come. Our inboxes were flooded this morning with press releases and reader tips about reports that Obama would reevaluate the waiver denial, something he promised during his campaign. The LA Times writes that at least 17 other states, with about 40 percent of the U.S. population, are looking at adopting (or have already adopted) the California rules, so this decision could affect vehicle sales for almost half of all Americans. Meanwhile, on NPR this morning, the Auto Alliance repeated its opposition to the state-by-state (or even two-tier) regulation system. The Alliance’s Charles Territo told NPR that, “At this difficult time for the industry, and for the economy as a whole, what we need is certainty and consistency, not confusion and chaos.” In the same NPR piece, California Attorney General Jerry Brown said that the automakers came begging for a government bailout after people stopped buying their big vehicles, but they continue to fight rules that call for smaller, cleaner vehicles. The National Auto Dealers Association released a study last week that found that, “state-by-state regulations would have ‘little or no environmental benefit’ but would erratically harm the economy.” Their email is pasted after the jump. We’ll be in D.C. for that city’s auto show next week and will be paying close attention to the regulatory atmosphere when we get there. Without a doubt, there will be more to come. Thanks to everyone who sent this in. UPDATE: more here . [Source: LA Times ] Continue reading Obama looks to change California’s EPA waiver status; big changes could follow Obama looks to change California’s EPA waiver status; big changes could follow originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Mon, 26 Jan 2009 11:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Car Blog Green|Car Blog Green|Car Blog Green|Car Blog Green

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Obama looks to change California’s EPA waiver status; big changes could follow