The fuel economy and tailpipe emissions standards that the Obama administration unveiled on Tuesday essentially formalized a deal the White House cut in May that got the federal government, states, the auto industry and environmentalists more or less on the same track with respect to climate change.
But there were several important political statements embedded in the several hundred-page proposal.
The first is that even more sweeping regulations addressing global warming are on the way. Within weeks, the EPA is expected to issue an "endangerment finding" that would trigger a requirement for the federal government to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act (PL 101-549) -- even without new legislation. This wouldn't just cover emissions from "mobile sources" like cars and trucks, but from power plants, factories and other large facilities. That puts pressure on the Senate to begin moving a climate change bill and protect its favored industries, or watch from the sidelines while the EPA writes new rules.
The agreement also intensifies pressure on states that have been slow to promote clean energy alternatives. Put succinctly, if Michigan lawmakers are willing to acquiesce and place their largest industry under a regulatory regime conceived in California, holdouts will have a tougher time arguing for business as usual. Sure, it's difficult for automakers, their unions and representatives in Congress to resist this kind of change when the government owns a big ownership stake in two of Detroit's Big Three, but ... well, you get the idea.
Finally, the regulations on Tuesday give the Obama administration more credibility heading into December's U.N. climate conference in Copenhagen, where the United States and nearly 200 countries will try to agree on terms for a new climate change treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol in 2012. Even if the Senate fails to finish work on climate change legislation, the regulations give the United States more credibility at the bargaining table, by demonstrating it's been aggressive regulating emissions within its borders.
Of course, the biggest sell job might still be persuading U.S. businesses they won't be harmed under a new global accord that goes easy on developing nations like India and China. But we're fairly certain some in Congress will remind the White House of that.
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