will aid drive to cut
smog by 20 percent
State hopes rules
will aid drive to cut
smog by 20 percent
BY ALISON GRANITO
Staff Writer
An initiative that environmental groups and state officials say will help clean up our air is on its way.
Gov. James E. McGreevey signed the Clean Cars Act into law last month after the bill passed both houses of the Legislature during their final sessions. The measure will bring California’s low-emission standards for vehicles to New Jersey by the end of the decade.
In addition to California, New Jersey will join New York, Massachusetts and Maine, states that already have similar laws on the books.
"Automobiles in New Jersey contribute 40 percent of the pollution that diminishes our air quality and more than 80 percent of the airborne carcinogens," McGreevey said in a prepared statement. "If you need proof, look at the black soot that covers the trucks that pass you on the highway."
Under the California low-emission regulations for vehicles, the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) must phase in the rules which require a reduction in tailpipe emissions for all cars, sport-utility vehicles and light-duty trucks by 2009.
The bill will also require auto manufacturers to produce approximately 40,000 low-emission vehicles, such as gas electric hybrid cars, by 2009.
Because some car manufacturers already produce low-emission vehicles, the DEP will offer credits for cars manufactured between 1999 and 2009, according to state officials.
State officials estimate that the new emissions standards will reduce air toxins 20 percent more than federal emissions standards, as well as cut smog 19 percent by 2020.
Air pollution is suspected to cause between 2,300 to 5,400 premature deaths a year and is the largest source of carcinogens contributing to New Jersey’s growing asthma rates.
Last month the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that some New Jersey counties are rated among the 25 worst in the nation for air toxins, which are largely released in emissions from cars and trucks, according to state officials.
Environmental groups lauded the bill’s passage as a victory for public health.
"Here in New Jersey, everyone breathes air that egregiously exceeds U.S. EPA standards," said Dena Mottola, executive director of the New Jersey Public Interest Research Group. "We don’t have to look any further than the heavy traffic in our own communities and on the highways that surround us to understand how profoundly auto emissions contribute to our state’s pollution problem."
"This bill will start to clear the air in New Jersey by encouraging car makers to produce the cleanest cars possible for New Jersey as early as this year and in increasing numbers over time," she added.
David Pringle, of the New Jersey Environmental Federation, said air pollution amounts to the third most serious public health factor in the state. Only obesity and smoking claim more lives than air pollution every year.
"Although cars are the single largest source of unhealthy air pollution, up until now little has been done to reduce pollution from cars," Pringle said.
The bill faced heavy opposition from auto manufacturers, car dealers and the New Jersey Petroleum Council. The New Jersey Chamber of Commerce, which also opposed the bill, said that new rules would have an adverse effect on business in the state.
Business and industry groups have challenged whether the more stringent standards under the California program provide more than a negligible increase in benefits over existing federal standards.