The other day, I heard on the radio about the Maryland legislature voting to follow California car emission standards.
The news report contained a soundbite from an opponent to the bill saying that he didn't want to be governed by a board (of a dozen? or so) in California.
Too late. It's already affected me. When I bought my car, about 7 years ago, it had emission controls on it that lowered the horsepower a little, while meeting Calif. requirements.
I didn't quite understand how that happened to my car. But when I read an article about the vote in the Baltimore Sun, I remembered that my car came from Pennsylvania.
The article said that "about one-third of U.S. drivers now are in compliance with California's stricter pollution standards, including those in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey..."
When I bought my car, I'd gone to a dealer in Bel Air. They didn't have the model I wanted, a bottom-of-the-line stick shift. So they had to get one from a dealer in Pennsylvania.
Aha! So now I understand why my car was modified to satisfy Calif. standards.
The Sun article explained a little how the Calif. standards attained prominence:
"Under a 1977 amendment to the federal Clean Air Act, California is the only state that can regulate auto emissions. It was given special authority because it has the worst vehicle pollution in the nation. Other states were later given the option of following either the federal standards or California's stricter limits."
The ramifications of California's regulation on the car makers are undeniable. I saw acknowledgement of this a couple years ago, during a trip to Germany.
I was visiting the Audi car museum in Ingolstadt. (Just a fantastic collection!)
And one of the panels of text describing engine technology mentioned California's role in influencing car emissions (and therefore, engine design).
[I took a picture of the text, and I'll try to post it, when I find it and scan it.]
Posted by raacluse at February 28, 2007 03:43 AM