Currently, 13 states have adopted California's strong standards for reducing global warming and smog-forming pollution from vehicles.

States that have adopted California Clean Car Standards:
California, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington.

Interest in the standards is not limited to those states alone:

States that have had legislation or executive action on the California Clean Car Standards
Arizona, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, Tennessee, Texas, Utah.

These rules require about a 30 percent reduction in global warming emissions from new vehicles by 2016. Under a provision of the federal Clean Air Act, states are permitted to adopt initiatives, like California's clean car rules, that go beyond federal vehicle pollution standards.

Unfortunately, the automakers—led by the legal and lobbying group, The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers (a.k.a. The Auto Alliance)—have decided to resist these common sense standards in favor of determined lobbying efforts, misleading advertising campaigns, and lawsuits, to eliminate the clean car rules.

With the change in Congress, however, the Auto Alliance has made a change in its leadership, hiring Dave McCurdy, a former seven-term Democratic congressman from Oklahoma, as its new president. McCurdy is reportedly interested in developing a less adversarial relationship with environmental organizations. McCurdy also has close ties to former CIA Director James Woolsey (McCurdy recommended Woolsey for the post). Woolsey has now become a prominent spokesperson for increased vehicle efficiency on energy security grounds.

UCS engineers recently developed a new clean car design - The UCS Vanguard - That dismantles the key automaker arguments against the standards. The UCS Vanguard package would achieve at least a 41 percent reduction in heat-trapping emissions from small and large cars, minivans, and small and large trucks. Relatively small increases in sticker price would be offset by savings at the pump of as much as $1,034 over each vehicle's lifetime, with payback periods ranging from 1.6 to 5.2 years.

The UCS Vanguard minivan design has eight key components - including improvements in the engine, transmission, air conditioning, fuel system, and tires - that can be found individually in more than 100 vehicles on the road. The Vanguard is not a hybrid vehicle. Instead, it uses cost-effective, conventional technologies and fuels to achieve significant reductions in global warming pollution.

Global warming pollution from cars and light trucks has increased by 32 percent since 1990 and is projected to rise another 28 percent by 2020, if states don't take action to counter this trend. The risks from toxic vehicle emissions, including the known carcinogen benzene, also remain high.

Clean car standards will also provide consumers with more vehicle choice because they require automakers to offer more zero and near-zero emission vehicles—such as cleaner gasoline, hybrid and, eventually, fuel cell and electric vehicles. However, limited supplies of "clean" vehicles like hybrids will be focused on states that have adopted the standards. Similarly, the cleaner diesels that many automakers are developing to meet the California standards may only be available in states that require them.

Contrary to vehicle manufacturer claims, clean car standards will not put auto dealers out of business. Auto dealers in clean car states will not be harmed by the standards because dealers across state lines will not able to undercut the law and unfairly sell dirty cars in clean car states.

The automakers can and should provide consumers with cleaner vehicles options. Additionally, they should not be allowed to stand in the way of state clean car efforts to protect the environment and public health.

For more information, please visit:
UCS Vanguard Homepage
Automakers vs. the People
Technologies to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emission from Vehicles