Pennsylvania Clean Vehicles Program Background

Tailpipe emissions from passenger vehicles are responsible for roughly one-third of the smog pollution that plagues Pennsylvania and Delaware communities. In the 1990s, Clean Air Council pushed the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to adopt the strong vehicle emission standards that exist in Pennsylvania today. These standards have been ramping up over time, and air quality has steadily improved as a result.

Unfortunately, in October 2005, members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly introduced misguided legislation that would repeal the Clean Vehicles Program and prevent some of the strongest vehicle emission standards from being implemented. One of the bill’s sponsors claimed that the standards should be blocked, because, “Since the year 2000, we’ve virtually had very, very clean air.” This statement ignores the fact that air quality improvements have resulted from strong pollution reduction policies.

The sad reality is that thirty-seven counties across Pennsylvania still do not meet the federal government’s basic air quality standards. As a result, thousands of Pennsylvanians suffer from needless asthma attacks and other health problems each year, leading to missed school and work days, as well as hospitalizations. Further emissions reductions from cars and trucks would go a long way towards reducing smog pollution and improving public health.

Because the technology that reduces vehicle emissions also happens to improve an automobile’s gas mileage, consumers stand to save thousand of dollars in gasoline costs if the Clean Vehicles Program is permitted to move forward. Furthermore, the program is constructed in such a way that consumer choice is completely protected. Auto manufacturers will be allowed to continue selling large SUVs, pickups and vans, so long as they sell cleaner models as well. The standards apply only to new vehicles, not to existing ones.

If the Pennsylvania Clean Vehicles Program is repealed, the weaker, minimum federal emission standards required by law would automatically take their place. Repealing the Clean Vehicles Program would be a serious mistake for a number of reasons.

1) The Pennsylvania Clean Vehicles Program will improve air quality in Pennsylvania more quickly and thoroughly than the federal rule.
Among other environmental benefits, the Clean Vehicles Program will provide an additional 6 to 12 percent reduction of volatile organic compound emissions and 9 percent reduction of nitrogen oxide emissions more than the federal program. These types of emissions are responsible for the ozone, or smog, pollution problem that plagues much of Pennsylvania and all of Delaware.

When the Pennsylvania Clean Vehicles Program is fully implemented it will literally reduce tons more ozone-forming pollution in the Commonwealth each and every day than the federal program would. That is an extremely significant, no-cost reduction in localized air pollution that would be very difficult to duplicate. In addition to the benefits in reducing ozone pollution, the Clean Vehicles Program will reduce tailpipe emissions of carbon dioxide by 30% and cancer-forming benzene by as much as 15%.

2) The Pennsylvania Clean Vehicles Program will save Pennsylvanians money at the gas pump.
The emission requirements under the program can be easily met by adding off-the-shelf hybrid technologies to existing car and truck models. This would result in significantly better gas mileage for new cars, reducing the average motorist’s need for gasoline by more than 10 gallons per month. When the program is fully implemented about a decade from now, it is reasonable to assume that the addition of fuel-saving technologies could add to the sticker price of a new vehicle—but the better gas mileage associated with these technologies would save drivers money over the life of their cars. Click here for more information.

The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, which opposes the Pennsylvania Clean Vehicles Program, has been trying to scare people with its suggestion that the cost meeting the standards when fully implemented will add $3,000 to the cost of a new car. Even if they are correct, car buyers will likely recuperate that money in gasoline savings over the life of their cars—but the automakers have a history of vastly overestimating the cost of meeting new environmental standards that they oppose. In the 1990s, the auto industry estimated that the cost of meeting the California Low Emission Vehicle I standards would be $788 per car; the actual cost has been just $83 per car. The auto industry overestimated the cost of meeting the standard by nearly ten times. Regulators estimate the cost of meeting the standard currently in debate as being approximately $1,000 when the program is fully implemented about ten years from now, and virtually nothing for the first few years. Click here for more.

3) The Pennsylvania Clean Vehicles Program will keep Pennsylvania in compliance with federal requirements.
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania always has the power to determine which of the available tailpipe emission standards best meet its needs. That said, choosing the weaker of the two standards could impact the state’s economic interests. The Clean Vehicles Program is currently written into Pennsylvania’s federally-approved State Implementation Plan (SIP) for coming into attainment with federal air quality standards for ozone. Insofar as the Clean Vehicles Program is not implemented, the state is in violation of its SIP; as such, it risks facing serious penalties, including the possible loss of federal highway funds. Of course, the state can always revise its SIP to remove the Clean Vehicles Program, but that would require developing a plan to further reduce air pollution from other sectors of the state’s economy, such industry or small business. Reducing air pollution from passenger vehicles is the easiest way for the state to come into compliance with federal air quality requirements.

The Pennsylvania Clean Vehicles Program will improve air quality, protect public health, save consumers money and keep the state compliant with clean air laws much better than the federal program ever could. Repealing the Clean Vehicles Program would be a serious mistake.

For a point-by-point response to misinformation about the Clean Vehicles Program, click here.

Click here to view a humorous one-minute web animation about opposition to the Clean Vehicles Program.

Take Action to Protect Air Quality

To tell the automobile club AAA to drop its opposition to the Clean Vehicles Program, click here.