On January 10, 2008, the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) issued its draft rules to cut GHG from vehicles and filed its notice of proposed rule making with the Secretary of State’s Office.
The new rules are being developed pursuant to an Executive Order on climate change issued last year by Gov. Janet Napolitano.
The proposed rules include tailpipe emission standards for new vehicles, requirements for the sale of some zero-emissions vehicles in the state and reduction of GHG emissions overall from new vehicles sold in Arizona.
The rules would apply to vehicles beginning with the 2011 model year. Arizona’s rules will be based on the Clean Car program adopted by the State of California. States are authorized under the federal Clean Air Act to adopt California’s vehicle emissions standards. Note, however, that EPA has denied California’s waiver and the waiver decision will need to be reversed if California and other states are going to be allowed to enforce the GHG emissions regulation. Arizona has joined 15 other states in a lawsuit brought by California against the EPA to reverse EPA’s decision to deny the waiver.
In addition to California, 12 other states have adopted the California GHG vehicle standards. They are Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Mexico, New York, New Jersey, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington. Along with Arizona, at least four other states – Colorado, Florida, Montana and Utah – also have announced plans to adopt the California GHG vehicle standards.
