EPA backtracks on Californian exhaust emissions waiver

In an historic move, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has this week reversed a Bush-era decision by granting 14 states permission to impose stricter fuel emission criteria than federal standards allow.

The Agency has granted a waiver, originally requested by California, that would enable the states to impose stricter emission standards for automobiles than had been applied at federal level.

The decision brings to an end a long-running legal tussle between the states and the EPA, which saw California originally ask for the waiver in 2005, only to have it refused by the EPA in March 2008, on the grounds that the request did not meet "compelling and extraordinary conditions" under the Clean Air Act. California sued the EPA when the waiver application was refused.

However, one of the first measures undertaken by President Obama upon taking office in January was to request the EPA to review the decision.

Lisa Jackson, who took over as administrator for the Agency following Obama's election, said the waiver should be granted under the Clean Air Act. "This decision puts the law and science first," she said. "After review of the scientific findings, and another comprehensive round of public engagement, I have decided this is the appropriate course under the law."

The move is likely to anger car firms, which have argued that allowing individual states to set their own fuel-efficiency standards will create a patchwork of different regulations with which it is difficult and costly to comply.

However, the move forms part of a wider trend in favour of lower fuel emission standards from the Obama administration. In May, President Obama announced a national fuel efficiency policy that would cover vehicles with model years 2012-2016.

The policy requires an average fuel economy standard of 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016, which the White House said would save 1.8 billion barrels of oil over the life of the programme, along with 900 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions. Previous legislation required an average fuel economy of 35 miles per gallon by 2020.

In April, California also adopted low-carbon fuel rules that it said would cut vehicle emissions across the state by 10 per cent over the next 10 years.