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EPA to Let California Set Own Auto Emissions Limits

from the Washington Post (Registration Required)

The Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday granted California's request to set its own limits on greenhouse gases from autos -- a long-sought victory with limited impact now that the federal government has pledged to impose national limits.

That decision grants California a waiver to impose a limit on the emissions from new cars, when no such rules now exist in federal law. ... The District and 13 states, including Maryland, have pledged to adopt California's new rules as their own.

Automakers selling in these states will be required to reduce new cars' average emissions by 5 percent in 2010, by 14 percent by 2011, and by 20 percent by 2012, said Tom Cackette, a deputy director of the California Air Resources Board. But a White House announcement in May drained this decision of much of its meaning.