As we reported on ClimateIntel earlier, one of President Obama’s first acts in office was to instruct the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to review its denial of California’s waiver request to federal regulations on automobile emissions. That waiver, which California had sought since 2005—and had been denied by the Bush administration EPA—would allow California to impose limits on the carbon dioxide emitted by new cars within the state.

That review will begin this Thursday, March 5th—almost a year to the day since the EPA rejected the original request—with a public hearing. Written comments regarding the waiver request will be accepted until April 6th. According to the EPA’s website on the waiver request, “EPA shall grant a waiver unless it finds that California:

• was arbitrary and capricious in its finding that its standards are in the aggregate at least as protective of public health and welfare as applicable federal standards;
• does not need such standards to meet compelling and extraordinary conditions; or
• has proposed standards not consistent with Section 202(a) of the Clean Air Act.”

Documents pertaining to the waiver request are available here.

For further information about this topic, please contact Akin Gump.