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Larry Fafarman

--"To be sure, increased efficiency does have the secondary result of producing cleaner-emitting cars, and regulators charged with implementing CAFE do have to consult with EPA and take environmental impacts into account (note: they were recently found to be doing a poor job of this). But its not an emissions standard, explicitly focused on the environmental and public health impacts of CO2 emissions, by any stretch of the imagination. And no spin-driven attempt to substitute CAFE for California's GHG emissions program can change that."--

What? "Not an emissions standard"? California's proposed GHG emissions standards are expressed in terms of fuel efficiency, not in terms of GHG emissions measurements in standardized tests.

Timothy Dowling

Larry -- You're the victim of misinformation. Here's the description of the Cal. regs from the Green Mountain Chrysler opinion (508 F. Supp.2d 295: "The AB 1493 Regulations provide that carbon dioxide emissions for passenger cars and light duty trucks less than 3750 pounds be less than 323 grams per mile starting with the 2009 model year, and decrease to 205 grams per mile of carbon dioxide in the 2016 vehicle year and beyond. The corresponding values for emissions of carbon dioxide in grams per mile for light duty trucks over 3751 pounds and medium duty passenger vehicles is 439 grams per mile in 2009, and 332 grams per mile in 2016 and beyond. The AB 1493 Regulations address four greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and hydrofluorocarbons. Although the emissions standards are expressed in grams of carbon dioxide per mile, the AB 1493 Regulations provide formulae for the conversion of other greenhouse gas pollutants to their carbon dioxide equivalents. The AB 1493 Regulations detail the method for computation of fleet average carbon dioxide emissions for the vehicle fleets being regulated."

The regs are available at Cal. Code Regs. title 13, section 1961.1 and they confirm this description. If you're going to comment on the content of the regulations, read them first.

Larry Fafarman

--"If you're going to comment on the content of the regulations, read them first. "--

Then why have all the news reports expressed the California greenhouse gas standards in terms of fuel efficiency? I didn't read the regulations because I did not suspect that the news reports were wrong.

Anyway, on conventional motor vehicles, there is a definite correlation between fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions.

Timothy Dowling

Larry -- The auto industry does a very good job of confusing people on this issue, including the news media. If you want accuracy on these matters, stick with Warming Law.

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