REGULATORY DEVELOPMENTS

August 2009

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U.S. EPA Grants California’s GHG Emissions Waiver under the Clean Air Act

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has granted the State of California’s request for a waiver under the federal Clean Air Act (CAA) to allow enforcement of the state’s 2005 tailpipe greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions standards for new motor vehicles. The decision came just 15 months after the Bush administration’s EPA denied the same request, when then-EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson concluded that the CAA waiver process was intended to allow California to address only “local or regional” pollution problems, not global climate change issues impacting California and other states and nations equally. Acting on direction from President Obama to review the denial, EPA considered the prior administrative record and new documents and comments from stakeholders, and determined the waiver was necessary for California to address the state’s contribution to global climate change.