California board starts hearing on zero emissions rule

September 8, 2000
Web posted at: 11:28 AM EDT (1528 GMT)

SACRAMENTO, California (Reuters) -- A state board kicked off a two-day hearing Thursday seeking to determine whether California should change its first-in-the nation requirement that a certain number of new cars in 2003 be nonpolluting.

The California Air Resources Board is considering easing state rules that would require some 20,000 of the cars sold in California to be electric in 2003 in an effort to improve air quality in the nation's most populous state.

Environmental and health groups say the mandate has already been relaxed enough but automakers argue the technology isn't ready to make expensive-to-build electric vehicles affordable.

The rules mainly affect the world's biggest auto makers, which include Ford Motor Co. , General Motors Corp. ), DaimlerChrysler AG , Honda Motor Co. ), Nissan Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp.

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"We'd like to see the electric vehicle market become a competitive market, to where we're all fighting for leadership in the market, rather than being pushed into a market that's not ready yet," Ford spokesman Kelly Brown told the board.

The closely-watched hearings are seen as a last chance for automakers and oil industry lobbyists-- who have already gained two changes to the rules adopted in 1990 -- to alter the order once more before they must begin readying for the 2003 deadline.

The outcome could also affect zero emission rules in New York, Massachusetts, Maine and Vermont because federal law requires these states to follow any changes California makes.

But if the board sticks to its current rules, 4 percent of the passenger cars and light trucks sold in California in 2003 must emit no pollution. Another 6 percent of the vehicles must produce very low emissions.

This would increase the more than 2,000 electric cars already rolling down California roads to 20,000. Most of the state's electric cars have been sold within the past four years.

"When there are 40 million cars on California roads, even the best air pollution controls will not be enough to keep emissions low," Air Resources Board spokesman Jerry Martin told the packed hearing.

The zero emission rule is aimed at improving air in a state where 95 percent of residents live in areas that do not meet federal or state air quality standards, according to Air Resources Board statistics. About half of the smog-forming pollutants in California come from gasoline and diesel-powered vehicles.

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