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Bringing cleaner cars to New Mexico’s roads

By Lauren Ketcham, Environment New Mexico

 

The pollution performance of just a handful of corporations has a dramatic impact on the air we breathe and the climate we will pass on to future generations. General Motors, Ford, DaimlerChrysler, Toyota, Honda and Nissan are responsible for more than 90 percent of the heat-trapping and smog-forming emissions from new automobiles today. The transportation sector is already the second largest source of carbon dioxide pollution in New Mexico, and the fastest growing source of new emissions.

 

With this in mind, on Nov. 28, the New Mexico Environmental Improvement Board passed tough Clean Car standards to reduce global warming and toxic air emissions from new vehicles sold in New Mexico beginning in Model Year 2011.

 

Despite overwhelming support (more than 2,000 individuals and organizations submitted public comments in favor of the program, while only about 30 comments were filed in opposition), the program is already under attack.

On Dec. 19, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Stephen Johnson announced that he was denying a waiver for California, needed under the Clean Air Act for that state, and by extension all states including New Mexico, to implement the global warming standards portion of the Clean Cars Program.

In making this decision, the EPA has chosen to ignore the science behind global warming, its legal duty and the Clean Air Act. Over the objections from its own legal and technical staff, EPA Administrator Johnson has bowed to political pressure from the automobile industry and its friends in the White House.

Quickly following this decision, New Mexico joined 15 other states that filed a lawsuit against the EPA opposing the decision. Unfortunately, while this works its way through the courts, the public and the planet will suffer from diverted resources and delayed action on climate change due to the federal government standing in the way of state action to address global warming.

 

In the meantime, a handful of state legislators and dealerships have been busy at work filing their own lawsuits. In November, four New Mexico state legislators — Senators Timothy Jennings and John Arthur Smith, and Representatives George Hanosh and Jim Trujillo — and a handful of businesses filed a lawsuit against the Environmental Improvement Board, alleging it lacks the authority to adopt the standards. Although the lawsuit has been dismissed, the parties have signaled their intention to appeal the decision.

 

At the same time, three dealerships — Zangara Dodge in Albuquerque, Auge Sales and Service in Belen and Phil Carrell Chevrolet-Buick in Carlsbad — have filed a complaint in federal court against the Albuquerque Environmental Health Department and the New Mexico Environment Department. The frivolous lawsuit is nearly identical to those filed in two other states (California and Vermont) in which judges determined automakers’ claims were without merit.

 

Automakers — and their friends in D.C. and the New Mexico state Legislature — need to stop litigating and start innovating. The Clean Cars Program is the single biggest step New Mexico and other states can take to reduce global warming from the transportation sector. The auto industry has the technology and the know-how to make cleaner, more efficient vehicles, but they’ve systematically stymied state efforts.

 

Please call the legislators that have filed the lawsuit and tell them to do what’s in the best interest of all New Mexicans and drop their lawsuit against the Clean Cars Program: Rep. Hanosh (Cibola and McKinley counties): 505-287-4451; Rep. Trujillo (Santa Fe County): 505-470-0143; Sen. Jennings (Chaves, Eddy, Lea and Roosevelt counties): 575-623-8331; Sen. Smith (Hidalgo, Luna and Sierra counties): 575-546-4979.

 

For more information, please contact Lauren Ketcham, Environment New Mexico, 505 254-4819, Lauren@environmentnewmexico.org

 

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