The California Clean Cars Campaign can provide spokespeople from participating organizations and supporting organizations to address a wide range of global warming issues. Experts can address the effects of global warming on public health, the environment, California's economy, environmental justice, and our quality of life. These experts come from all over the state and can provide a range of academic, scientific and practical information for reporters. Spanish-speaking representatives are also available.
Check out the news releases and fact sheets for additional background. And check back frequently—we’re updating this page regularly.
January 10, 2008 – U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, chair of the Environment and Public Works Subcommittee, holds a field hearing in Los Angeles to set the record straight about the California waiver denial.
Sen. Boxer excoriated U.S. EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson for not showing up at the briefing to explain why he refused California's request to take strong steps to combat global warming. An empty chair at the briefing symbolized the absence of any representative of the EPA, and an empty box marked “EPA Documents” symbolized that he has failed to submit any of the documents that have been requested by the Environment and Public Works Committee relating to his decision.
January 10, 2008 – An assessment of major studies that have examined the implications of global warming for urban smog concludes that the EPA’s refusal to allow California to regulate greenhouse gases from motor vehicles has adverse consequences for the health of California’s urban residents, especially children and seniors.
Environmental Defense news release
Environmental Defense reportJanuary 2, 2008 – In separate petitions, California and 15 states – plus five environmental organizations – ask a federal court to reverse the December 19, 2007 U.S. EPA decision denying California a waiver to implement its Clean Cars law. The petitions were filed in the 9th Circuit of Appeals.
Learn moreDecember 19, 2007 – Bush EPA denies California clean cars waiver.
Read reaction to EPA waiver decisionDecember 11, 2007 – U.S. District Judge Anthony Ishii rules that California can implement its clean cars law (AB 1493) under the Federal Clean Air Act. However, California still needs a waiver from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency before it can implement its law.
Read the court order
Read the Attorney General’s Press release
Read the American Lung Association of California news release
Read the NRDC news release
Read the UCS news release
Read the Sierra Club news release
Read story from Sacramento BeeNovember 8, 2007 – In a precedent setting lawsuit, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. sued the U.S. EPA, to force action on the state’s waiver request. The lawsuit, filed today in Washington D.C. , charges the EPA with an unreasonable delay in reaching a decision on California’s request for a waiver to implement its clean cars law.
Fourteen other states – Arizona, Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington – joined California’s lawsuit.
Read the Governor’s Press release and view video
Read the Attorney General’s Press release
Read the Complaint
Read the Statement from Former US EPA Administrator William K. Reilly
Read the statement from NRDC’s David Doniger
Read the Environment California release
Read the National Environmental Trust statement
Read the Union of Concerned Scientists releaseSeptember 17, 2007 – A U.S. District Court judge dismisses a case brought against automakers by California's attorney general. Read the judge's decision.
September 12, 2007 – In November 2005, automakers sued to block Vermont from implementing its clean cars law. Today, the court ruled against the automakers and for the states of Vermont and New York and environmental groups in support of the clean cars law. The decision opens the way to implementation of California's vehicle global warming pollution standards in Vermont. Read more on the Clean Cars Campaign national site.
September 12, 2007 – Thirteen Governors sign a letter to automakers asking them to drop their lawsuits against state clean cars laws and work together to address global warming.
June 2007 – Following U.S. EPA hearings in May on California's waiver request comes word of U.S. DOT lobbying against the waiver, and more legal threats from California's governor to prod U.S. EPA into action. Read more on the Clean Cars Campaign national site.
May 10, 2007 – U.S. EPA announces a second public hearing on California's request for a waiver to implement its clean cars law. The first hearing is scheduled for May 22 in D.C. The second is May 30 in Sacramento. The deadline for comments is June 15. For more background, visit the Clean Cars Campaign website.
April 2, 2007 – U. S. Supreme Court rules 5-4 in a strongly-worded opinion that CO2 is a pollutant and that states can regulate, bolstering California’s Clean Cars Law.
Read the court opinion
Read the Union of Concerned Scientists press release
Read the Natural Resources Defense Council press release
Read the Sierra Club press releaseFebruary 14, 2007 – Sport Utility Vehicle Owners of America has launched another ad campaign targeting California’s clean cars rule. They did similar shenanigans in 2004. Read the LA Times and AP news stories about this industry front group. Also available, a fact sheet exposing SUVOA.
January 16, 2007 – U.S. District Court Judge Anthony Ishii postpones the trial date of the automakers' lawsuit against California's Clean Cars law pending a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court in a related case.
Read the NRDC news release — Read the judge's orderOctober 24, 2006 – California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger again urges U.S. EPA action on California's waiver request. Read the letter to President Bush.
September 26, 2006 – Environment, science, conservation, health, and consumer leaders join key members of Congress in calling on the Bush administration to allow California to implement its new clean-car standards to limit global warming emissions.
Read the news release — Read the letter from 100 Congressional Representatives.September 20, 2006 – California sues six major automakers for global warming damages. Read the news release — Read the legal complaint.
September 15, 2006 – Attorneys for the California Attorney General and the environmental intervenors argue in U.S. District Court in Fresno, Calif. that the federal Clean Air Act authorizes, and no other law preempts, California's regulations to reduce global warming pollution from vehicles. Media advisory and legal backgrounder.
April 20, 2006 – On the eve of President Bush’s Earth Day visit to California, 19 state legislators urge him to approve California’s Clean Cars Law waiver request. Read the letter.
April 12, 2006 – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger asks U.S. EPA to approve California’s request for a waiver to implement the Clean Cars Law. Read the governor’s letter. Read the original waiver request letter, December 21, 2005, from California Air Resources Board to U.S. EPA.
March 31, 2006 – Twenty-one senators sign a letter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency urging it to allow California and 10 other states to reduce pollution that causes global warming by adopting their own emissions standards.
March 29, 2006 - NHTSA issues fuel economy standards for light trucks.
March 16, 2006 – A scientific panel of the National Academies of Science has re-affirmed California’s pioneering role in setting technology—forcing air quality standards based on comprehensive technical analysis. The report says the state’s leading role is necessary to achieve healthy air and allows California to continue to be a proving ground for new technologies that benefit the state and the rest of the nation. Read the environmental groups’ news release. Read the report summary.
October 17, 2005 – Twenty eight members of the California Democratic delegation, led by Reps. Henry A. Waxman, Jim Costa, and Anna G. Eshoo, wrote to Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta challenging the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s attempt to preempt California’s landmark law to reduce global warming. Read the news release and the letter.
August 25, 2005 – California Air Resources Board (ARB) Chair Cindy Tuck responded to statements made by National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) which assert that states do not have the authority to adopt motor vehicle standards that limit greenhouse gas emissions.
April 13, 2005 – The CEOs of 53 environmental organizations from 14 countries, representing more than 6 million people, called on the CEOs of the world's largest automakers to drop their lawsuits against California's regulation limiting global warming pollution from passenger vehicles. Read the news release and the letter.
December 8 , 2004 – Clean Cars Campaign call automakers' legal challenge of the state's vehicle global warming regulation an attack on the state's right to protect its citizens from auto air pollution.
September 21, 2004 – Clean Cars Campaign delivers 112,000 postcards and letters to the governor in support of California's vehicle global warming regulation.
August 26, 2004 – Read the LA Times and AP news stories about industry front group Sport Utility Vehicle Owners of America’s (SUVOA) ad campaign attempting to derail California’s Clean Cars law. Also available, a fact sheet exposing SUVOA.
August 16, 2004 – Union of Concerned Scientists news release on National Academy of Sciences report on global warming impacts on California. Read the journal article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
August 6, 2004 – Natural Resources Defense Council statement on final ARB staff report
July 7, 2004 – California Clean Cars Campaign joint statement on ARB draft staff report.
April 19, 2004 – Union of Concerned Scientists releases new report demonstrating that technology already on the road can reduce heat-trapping pollution by 20 percent for $600 per vehicle, "Reducing Vehicular Global Warming Pollution Saves California Drivers Money." Press release also available.
April 13, 2004 – Environmental Defense releases new report on available technologies for reducing global warming pollution, "Exploring Greenhouse Gas Reduction Options for Automobiles."
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Wendy James
Jamie Knapp
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