Courtesy: Medill Reports Chicago
Illinois is on board while Texas is resisting
Illinois supports planned U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulation of greenhouse gases as pollutants detrimental to public health. But a Texas lawsuit challenges the EPA’s authority and the science behind it.
Alabama and Virginia have filed petitions also questioning the EPA’s authority. The EPA announced in December that it would regulate greenhouse gases, associated with global warming, based on findings that they are hazardous to health.
Illinois is on board with the EPA, according to Maggie Carson, communications manager of the Illinois EPA.
“We believe that the EPA’s findings are correct and we support them. But we can’t speak for Texas,” said Carson.
The U.S. EPA’s planned regulations would impact suppliers of fossil fuels and car manufacturers most directly. Texas emits the most greenhouse gases in the nation. With the current economic situation, Gov. Rick Perry has said the new EPA controls could cause the state to lose jobs and money. Historically, Texas has wrangled over many federal environmental regulations.
Texas is challenging the claim that greenhouse gases pose a threat to public health, a key to the case. In 2007, under the Clean Air Act, the U.S. Supreme Court granted the EPA the ability to control certain greenhouse gases if they were found to pose a health hazard.
EPA studies determined that the combination of six greenhouse gases—carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6)—pose a threat to public health. The EPA determined that cars and their engines emit this blend of gases, which adds to the already contaminating greenhouse gases in the air. Research was provided by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, established by the United Nations Environment Programme.
Cars produce more than 23 percent of the greenhouse gases in the United States, according to the EPA. So the agency proposed limits on tailpipe emissions from light-duty vehicles, including cars, weighing less than 8,500 pounds, for model 2012-2016 vehicles. These constraints would reduce emissions, eliminating the use of about 1.8 billion barrels of oil, the EPA said.
Carson said that Illinois’ current vehicle emissions testing system is up-to-date and in accordance with the latest EPA standards.
“The state will not be required to make changes to its vehicle emissions test program: these requirements primarily impact the auto manufacturers since they contain a miles per gallon standard,” Carson said.
“The Illinois EPA’s vehicle emissions test program improves air quality and public health. The federal Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 requires emissions testing programs in large, metropolitan areas which do not meet certain federal air quality standards. Although Illinois has made significant strides to clean its air since the Amendments took effect, levels of air pollution in Chicago and Metro-East St. Louis areas still exceed these standards,” according to the Illinois EPA Web site.
- Kate Howard
