Transcript X - The Nutrition Investigator

Should the Government Grant Individual States the Right to Waiver
National Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) Standards?
Abstract
The U.S. government is currently receiving resistance from the
state of California against a bill passed in December, 2007, which
mandates a Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standard
for every state in the nation. California would like to make their
CAFE standards higher than the national standard because they
experience more greenhouse gas emissions due to their state’s
size and population. Both California and the Federal
Government share the common interest of reducing greenhouse
gases, keeping their citizens healthy and happy, and reducing
the country’s dependence on foreign oil, but California believes
their CAFE standard would be more efficient in curbing the
effects of greenhouse gases, whereas the EPA is concerned
about condoning a “patchwork” of standards that would prove
chaotic. With the help of a Supreme Court Justice as a mediator,
the two parties could agree on how to negotiate the overarching
question, that is, should the Federal Government grant individual
states the right to waiver national CAFE standards?
Introduction
Recently, with growing concern over the future of our environment in
light of global warming statistics, politicians are making an effort to
promote fuel-efficient strategies for curbing greenhouse gas emissions.
On December 19, 2007, the House of Representatives passed the
Energy Independence and Security Act that would raise Corporate
Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards. A CAFE standard is the
sales weighted average fuel economy expressed in miles per gallon
(mpg) of a certain car model with a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR)
of 8,500 lbs or less (NHTSA, 2008). The new law requires auto
manufacturers to average their vehicles to 35 mpg by 2020, a 40%
increase since the last regulated requirement. The bill does not deny
the right for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to let states
such as California set their own standards for emissions from vehicle
tailpipes, but the EPA recently denied California’s request to raise their
CAFE standards to 30 mpg by 2016. Other states like New York have
expressed a desire to coincide their standards with those of California
because they believe that the proposed national CAFE standards are so
minimal that they will produce only marginal effects, particularly in states
with heavy traffic. The U.S. Government, however, is unwilling to put
pressure on car manufacturers with whom they have lobbying interests
and insist that a patchwork of state standards would be chaotic.
Furthermore, the EPA refuses to release information regarding their
reasoning for denying the waiver rights. California Attorney General
Edmund Brown Jr. has threatened that he, as well as California
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, will sue the EPA “at the earliest
possible moment” (Enews USA, 2008).
Meave Gagler and Caitlin MacDougall
Chemistry 127: The Art of Negotiation, Beloit College
Objective Criteria
The People Involved
California: The state’s representatives should be present for the
negotiation
EPA: The Environmental Protection Agency, who has denied
California waiver rights, should be present.
Supreme Court Justice: A judge should be the mediator to determine
whether California has extenuating circumstances that would require
different CAFE standards than those that are Federally mandated.
Interests:
While both the state of California and the U.S. Government are
interested in reducing the effects of global warming by minimizing
greenhouse gas emissions, California is interested in reducing their
emissions by 30 percent by the year 2016 and maintaining waiver
rights that the EPA has granted them since the 1970s. Additionally,
California is concerned with their water supply, which has been
diminished because of global warming, which rapidly melts the
west’s snowpacks (The Washington Post, 2008). And at the base,
this becomes an issue of states’ rights to govern themselves vs.
Federal authority. Although the EPA has withheld information
concerning their decision to deny California’s waiver, they have
publicly objected to what they believe is a chaotic system in which
each state has their own standards. With Federal CAFE standards,
states would be required to increase their fuel-economy standard by
40 percent to 35 mpg by 2020 (ABC News, 2008).
Options
-Create a panel of experts, most likely scientists, to determine if
California actually has “extenuating circumstances” that would
warrant waiver rights
-Set requirements on automobile manufacturers in California (i.e. to
make filters on the tailpipes of cars) so that cars can meet Federal
CAFE standards and still emit cleaner emissions
-Avoid a “patchwork” of 50 standards by having a non-partisan
professional panel establish specific groups of states according to
their demographics, geography and greenhouse gas emissions
-algorithm for CAFE standard (see Figure 1)
-projected greenhouse gas emissions with Federally regulated
standard
-projected greenhouse gas emissions with California standard
-greenhouse gas emissions in each state
-geographical and demographic analysis of traffic smog in
particular regions
Figure 1: Equation used to determine a fleet’s corporate
average fuel economy (National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration. “CAFE Overview.”
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/rules/cafe/overview.htm
References
ABC News. Technology Review. “The New Cafe
Standards”. Retrieved February 3, 2008.
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/GlobalWarming/story?id=
4136951&page=1.
Enews. “EPA Denies California GHG Vehicles Emission Rule
Waiver. Retrieved February 5, 2008.
http://enewsusa.blogspot.com/2008/01/epa-denies-californiaghg-vehicles.html.
Kaufman, Marc. “Decline in Snowpack Is Blamed On
Warming”. The Washington Post. Retrieved February 3,
2008. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2008/01/31/AR2008013101868.html.
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Website.
“CAFE Overview: Frequently Asked Questions”. Retrieved
February 3, 2008.
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/rules/café/overview.htm.