Sunday, January 25, 2009

Obama setting new automobile emissions regulations

He is moving quick, environmentalists should be happy about this. And about time.

President Obama will direct federal regulators on Monday to move swiftly on an application by California and 13 other states to set strict automobile emission and fuel efficiency standards, two administration officials said Sunday evening.

The directive makes good on an Obama campaign pledge and signifies a sharp reversal of Bush administration policy. Granting California and the other states the right to regulate tailpipe emissions would be one of the most emphatic actions Mr. Obama could take to quickly put his stamp on environmental policy.

Mr. Obama’s presidential memorandum will order the Environmental Protection Agency to reconsider the Bush administration’s past rejection of the California application. While it stops short of flatly ordering the Bush decision reversed, the agency’s regulators are now widely expected to do so after completing a formal review process.

Once they act, automobile manufacturers will quickly have to retool to begin producing and selling cars and trucks that get higher mileage than the national standard, and on a faster phase-in schedule. The auto companies have lobbied hard against the regulations and challenged them in court.

Isn't the above in bold (my emphasis) the reason Detroit is in Washington, DC asking for a bailout? With high gas prices all those trucks, SUVs cost an arm and a leg for the average person, and I mean high gas prices when they deem necessary to jack it up. Too many gas guzzlers, plus this industry failing to be innovative. Again, the car industry has been in bed with oil and gas far too long. It is way over due to demand fuel efficient cars.

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