Oregon Public Broadcasting

West Coast states can forge ahead with tougher tailpipe emissions rules. The federal government has granted California a long-awaited OK.

But the Obama Administration's plans to increase gas mileage standards on a national basis mean West Coast states will not go it alone. Correspondent Tom Banse reports.

In 2005, Oregon and Washington State lawmakers voted to copy California's crackdown on greenhouse gas pollution from cars.

Opposition from the Bush Administration and auto makers kept those tougher tailpipe standards on hold... until now.

The new administrator of the EPA is giving the states the green light. At the same time, the Obama Administration has started work on a national standard equivalent to the California rules.

Washington Dept. of Ecology Air Quality program manager Stu Clark expects more fuel efficient cars to go on sale everywhere.

Stu Clark: “Auto manufacturers get certainty until 2016. They only have to make one vehicle set and that's very helpful to them.”

California's tailpipe emissions rules limit greenhouse gas pollution by requiring better fuel economy. They call for a 40 percent improvement in average miles-per-gallon by 2016.

Online:

U.S. EPA: Greenhouse gas emissions standards