Late Wednesday, New Mexico became the thirteenth state to formally implement California's Clean Cars program after two days of hearings by a joint panel of statewide and Albuquerque-area regulators. Green Car Congress has the details on how this came about:
Directed by Governor Richardson and Albuquerque Mayor Chavez, the New Mexico Environment Department and the Albuquerque Environmental Health Department drafted the Clean Cars regulations.
Twenty-three environmental, health, faith, consumer and science groups presented technical testimony in support of the regulations and more than 2,000 members of the public provided written and oral comment at the hearings in support of the program.
The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, a trade association representing ten car and truck manufacturers, opposed the regulations.
Kudos to the Sierra Club's David Bookbinder, the Environment New Mexico coalition, and the leading scientific experts who saw this through by literally giving up sleep over the course of 48 grueling hours. As Congress nears agreement on a compromise energy bill, and the EPA weighs both its own clean cars program and California's critical waiver application, New Mexico has sent a loud message for bold and immediate action on a broader scale.
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