Abby L. Harvey
GHG Monitor
11/7/2014
Regulations developed under the Clean Air Act, including the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed carbon emissions standards for existing coal-fired power plants, can be flexible and yet enforceable, as demonstrated by this week’s settlement with auto manufacturers Hyundai and Kia, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy said during a press conference this week. The settlement resulted from alleged Clean Air Act violations to the light duty vehicle rule by the auto manufacturers. “While we are very committed to writing smart rules that are reasonable and affordable and achieve the kind of carbon pollution reductions we need, we are also equally diligent in making sure we’re implementing and enforcing those laws so that the reductions we need to protect public health and our economy are actually protected and delivered. Not just, I think, for vehicle fuel efficiency, but we can do this for many other sectors, including the power sector,” McCarthy said. “So, for anybody out there who may be wondering if EPA can successfully reduce carbon pollution by regulating under the Clean Air Act, you can stop wondering. We can, and indeed, we are.”
McCarthy later explained the similarities between the light duty vehicle rule and the agency’s proposed Clean Power Plan, which sets state-specific emissions reduction goals and requires the states to develop action plans to meet those goals. “Its two different sections under the Clean Air Act, but they’re both fairly intricate ways of us making sure that we can get carbon pollution reductions in a way that is reasonable and affordable,” she said. “There are many similarities in the approaches that we’re taking. One is looking at where each auto manufacturer is and what they can do and in this case it’s each state. This is a way of showing that although we’re providing significant flexibility, EPA under the Clean Air Act is going to achieve these reductions because they are federally enforceable and we put in place the kind of programs we need to ensure compliance.”
