California's push for traffic carbon rules hits a jam

California's long running battle to regulate car emissions received a set back last week, after a legal technicality saw one of two law suits against the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) refusal to allow the state to impose its own tailpipe standards rejected.

The legal battle between California and the EPA was kicked off last December, when after months of delays, EPA administrator Stephen Johnson formally declined a request from California and 15 other states for a waiver that would allow them to regulate car emissions under the Clean Air Act.

Johnson argued that federal regulations introduced on the same day, and requiring manufacturers to meet average fuel economy standards of 35 miles per gallon by 2020, were sufficient and that allowing states to set their own standards would lead to a patchwork of regulations.

California countered with a lawsuit against the EPA, but that was dismissed last week, because the EPA had not filed the decision in the Federal Registry at the time the suit was launched.

It subsequently filed the decision in March, immediately sparking a second lawsuit which is still awaiting a date for when it will be heard.

Attorney Dan Galpern, who is representing several green groups that joined the lawsuit, told GreenBiz.com that the dismissal of the first suit was only a procedural setback, but warned that it would still further delay a decision on whether states are allowed to set their own, more stringent emission standards.

However, there was better news for California's attempts to regulate emissions from ships last week, after the state's Air Resources Board last week formally adopted regulations requiring ships operating within 24 nautical miles of the coast to use cleaner fuels.

The board said that the new regulation would eliminate 15 tonnes of diesel exhaust a day from ocean going vessels and deliver health benefits to residents living near ports and trade corridors.

"This regulation will save lives," said Air Resources Board Chairman Mary Nichols. "At ports and all along the California coast we will see cleaner air and better health."

The regulation, which requires the use of lower sulphur fuels, will come into effect from 2009 before the new standards are further tightened in 2012.