In our view July 5: EPA Steps Up

While nowhere near the attention-grabbing magnitude of a pop star's passing, a relatively quiet ruling by the Environmental Protection Agency last Tuesday will have a profound impact on more than a dozen states, including Washington.

The EPA granted California permission to pursue stricter vehicle emissions standards than required by the federal government. Partisan politicians will trumpet the supposedly momentous symbolism in the waiver granted by the EPA. The Obama administration clearly is devoted to a quicker elevation of emissions standards than the Bush administration.

But the more meaningful measure of last week's news is how it frees California to pursue its own plan, as allowed by the federal Clean Air Act, at least when waivers are properly granted and not ignored by the federal government. California lawmakers want to increase the average fuel economy of cars and trucks sold in the state by 40 percent — to an average of 35.5 miles per gallon — by 2016. That's their right, and if 13 other states (including Washington and Oregon) want to follow down that path, they have that right, too.

As the Seattle Times editorialized on Wednesday, "Cleaner, efficient cars and light trucks are coming, with American nameplates. Measurable improvements in emissions are coming. We will all breathe easier for it." Note the newspaper's reference to "American nameplates." Domestic automakers have steadfastly resisted an accelerated raising of mileage standards. This has been done with the complicity of Congress, which for almost two decades has refused to raise mileage standards higher than the current required average of 27.5 mpg.

As a result, many cars with American nameplates gathered cobwebs in showrooms while foreign-based automakers rushed in and met consumer demand for more efficient vehicles. The ultimate price for domestic foot-dragging was paid this year with unprecedented financial hardships suffered by a U.S. auto manufacturing industry, one that now stands on the brink of collapse.

Five years ago, Californians' impatience drove them to embark on their own logical path. Washington state followed three years later. But there has been only an obstructionist response from Washington, D.C.

Until Tuesday, that is. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said: "This decision puts the law and science first." It also illuminates the states' rights issue. And if California is acting foolishly, we suspect 13 other states would not have followed down this path.

While the climate change debate rages unresolved, there is no denying that higher emissions standards mean fewer pollutants and cleaner air. And these higher standards are not unreasonable. If they were, Congress would not have enacted similar standards in the new energy law of 2007. But those standards would not become effective until 2020. That's too long to wait.

President Obama won't wait, and in May he vowed to move that 2020 deadline to 2016. The president also told the EPA to get busy with granting the waiver that California had been denied.

And that's what happened Tuesday. New federal standards will encounter more political hurdles, but 14 states now can set their own pace. Our unqualified prediction is that more states will follow down this example.

Motorists deserve more miles per gallon, but more importantly, Americans deserve cleaner air.