Obama may let states set strict emission standards

In a move that indicates a break from Bush regime policies, president Barack Obama will direct federal regulators to act fast on a plea by several US states to set strict automobile emission and fuel efficiency standards, a leading daily reported on Monday.

Granting those states the right to regulate tailpipe emissions would be one of the most emphatic actions Obama could take to quickly put his stamp on environmental policy, the New York Times said.

The directive asking federal regulators to move swiftly on an application by California and 13 other states makes good on an Obama campaign pledge and signifies a sharp reversal of Bush administration policy, the paper said.

Obama's presidential memorandum will order the Environmental Protection Agency to reconsider the Bush administration's past rejection of the California application, it said citing two administration officials.

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, it said.

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. 

Obama will use the announcement to bolster the impression of a sharp break from the Bush era on all fronts, following his decisions last week to close the Guantanamo Bay prison camp, tighten limits on interrogation tactics by CIA, order plans to withdraw combat forces from Iraq and reverse president George W Bush's financing restrictions on groups that promote or provide abortion overseas, officials said.

Beyond acting on the California emissions law, they said, Obama will direct the Transportation Department to quickly finalise interim nationwide regulations requiring the automobile industry to increase fuel efficiency standards to comply with a 2007 law, rules that the Bush administration decided at the last minute not to issue.

To avoid losing another year, Obama will order temporary regulations to be completed by March so automakers have enough time to retool for vehicles sold in 2011.

Final standards for later years will be determined by a separate process that under Obama's order must take into consideration legal, scientific and technological factors.

He will also order federal departments and agencies to find new ways to save energy and be more environment-friendly. And he will highlight the elements in his USD 825 billion economic stimulus plan intended to create jobs around renewable energy.

Charles Territo, a spokesman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, was quoted as saying the car makers would prefer a single national standard and need time to develop new fuel-sipping models.

"Applying California standards to several different states would create a complex, confusing and very difficult situation for manufacturers," he said last week in anticipation of the administration's announcement.