Agency and its partners pursue cleaner cars, revised burn ban threshold
Feb. 22, 2005 — Clean-car standards and a revised burn-ban threshold are on the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency’s legislative agenda this session to better protect public health and the environment.
The clean-car standards were recommended by the agency’s Climate Protection Advisory Committee as one of the key strategies to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global climate change. Known as California motor vehicle standards, they are stronger than the federal standards currently in effect and would also better protect public health by reducing toxic tailpipe emissions.
The agency is partnering with the non-profit Climate Solutions and others on the legislation, for which Rep. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, and Sen. Phil Rockefeller, D-Kitsap County, are the prime sponsors. The bill also includes a provision to continue funding for diesel retrofits statewide and the rescue tug at Neah Bay.
In addition, the American Lung Association of Washington, the Northwest Hearth, Patio and Barbecue Association, the Department of Ecology and other partners are joining the agency in proposing a change in the law that defines the threshold for calling winter burn bans.
Cleaner cars provide economic benefits
The clean-car standards will save consumers money through greater fuel efficiency. The California Air Resources Board calculates the fuel savings for the typical car buyer at about $11 per month. While the average car will cost about $325 more, the savings over the life of the vehicle can be more than $2,000.
Climate Solutions estimates that the clean-car standards will benefit our state’s economy by racking up more than $2 billion in fuel cost savings by 2020.
“That’s $2 billion that will go into our state's economy instead of our gas tanks,” said KC Golden of Climate Solutions.
“From a clean-air standpoint, the clean-car standards will ensure that we can reduce air toxics and continue to meet the federal air quality standards as our region grows,” said Dennis McLerran, the Clean Air Agency’s executive director.
Eight other states, including seven in the Northeast, have chosen clean-car standards to replace the weaker federal standards. Manufacturers already are producing cleaner cars, but they are only available in the states with the stricter standards.
“From Buicks to BMWs, clean cars are ordinary cars that have better pollution-control technology,” Golden said. “This legislation would mean that we could have access to these cars in Washington, too.”
If adopted, the standards would go into effect in 2009 and would include 15-year, 150,000-mile warranties.
New PM2.5 threshold offers better protection
The revised burn-ban threshold, recommended by another agency
stakeholder group, is based on the national air quality standard
for PM2.5, the fine particles that cause health problems for children,
seniors and people with heart and respiratory ailments.
Fine-particle pollution reaches unhealthy levels sooner than the
coarse-particle pollution on which the current threshold is based,
so the agency is not able to call burn bans soon enough to protect
those affected by rising pollution levels.
“Scientific studies show conclusively that fine particles damage people’s health more than we realized in the past,” McLerran said. “A revised burn-ban law will better protect people’s health during stagnant winter weather.”
Resources
To track the status of these bills with the Washington State Legislature:
HB 1397: Changing vehicle emission standards provisions
