Emission regulation dropped from House bill

WASHINGTON — The state of Washington could lose the ability to regulate its tailpipe emissions if a key Democratic leader has his way when the House takes up a climate-change bill in September.

After weeks of debate, Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., chairman of the House energy committee, agreed to drop a provision from the upcoming House energy bill that would have allowed automakers to circumvent states' emissions laws.

But Dingell, a longtime supporter of the automobile industry, has since been clear about his intention to revive the idea when the House tackles climate-change legislation this fall.

Washington is one of 11 states that have adopted California's strict automobile-emissions standards in an attempt to reduce greenhouse gases, which remain unregulated by the federal government. The state standards are scheduled to go into effect in 2009 pending Environmental Protection Agency approval.

Auto industry officials have pushed back, lobbying for one federal standard instead of a hodgepodge of state rules that they say will be hard for them to navigate.

Several House Democrats, including Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Bainbridge Island, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., protested the language that would pre-empt the states' emissions laws in favor of a proposed less-stringent federal standard. Dingell dropped the language to try to ensure smoother passage of the energy bill once it reaches the House floor.

"The question about who is going to deal with efficiency of automobiles and appliances at the national level is a question that we will have to address later, to see to it that we are able to continue our national market and achieve the benefits and advantages of that," Dingell said this week.

"I know what I think is good for the public and we're going to try to see to it that the public interest is served," he added.

The pre-emption language never was part of the Senate's version of the energy bill, which passed last week.

Instead, in a major victory for Democrats, the Senate bill would increase average fuel-economy standards from 25 miles per gallon to 35 mpg by 2020, the first significant change to fuel economy in more than 30 years.

The recently announced House energy package, which Pelosi, Dingell and other Democratic leaders proclaimed a major achievement, has been criticized by both Democrats and Republicans for failing to address controversial issues such as fuel economy and liquid fuels made from coal.

These issues could still be debated as amendments to the bill, which is expected to reach the House floor in July. But Pelosi has indicated that many of the issues will be discussed as part of the upcoming climate-change legislation.

"It is not the end of the debate," she said. "This is a debate that will continue into the fall."

Inslee is optimistic that the fall climate-change bill will leave Washington's ability to regulate its auto emissions intact. He said improvements in science, public sentiment aboutglobal warming and the evolution of green technology have contributed to a recent surge of support in Congress for tougher greenhouse-gas regulations.

"It's just no longer tenable to adopt the position of the ostrich when it comes to global warming, so fewer people are doing it publicly," he said.

Inslee, a member of the House energy committee, cited energy-package provisions that promote plug-in hybrid cars and green building technology as proof that Congress is increasingly sympathetic to global-warming initiatives.

"We're winning amendments we would not have won two months ago," he said.

Although California's law sets emissions standards that all cars produced for 2009 must meet, the law will not go into effect until the Environmental Protection Agency grants the state permission to set a standard that differs from the federal one.

If California gains permission, Washington and the 10 other states that adopted the law also will be allowed to enforce it. The EPA decision is expected by the end of the year.