| April 28, 2004 In the wake of a
Supreme Court decision today affecting the South Coast Air Quality
Management District’s clean fleet rules, agency officials vowed to pursue
all possible efforts to implement measures to reduce toxic and smog-forming
air pollution.
In an 8-1 decision, the Supreme Court of the United States issued an
opinion today that the agency is pre-empted from implementing the rules for
purchases of new vehicles by privately owned fleets. The court left the
door open for fleet rules governing leased and used vehicles, and rules that
“can be characterized as internal state purchase decisions,” which may well
encompass more than publicly owned fleets. It sent the case back to the
trial court for further deliberation.
The majority of vehicles regulated by AQMD’s fleet rules are operated by
government agencies, or are contracted to such agencies.
“We are disappointed in this decision by the court,” said Barry
Wallerstein, executive officer of the South Coast Air Quality Management
District.
“However, we are determined to continue implementing the rules for
publicly owned fleets. We will also consider asking the state and the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency to allow us to continue to regulate
privately owned fleets.”
In its decision authored by Justice Antonin Scalia, the Supreme Court
ruled today that the federal Clean Air Act generally prohibits local
jurisdictions such as the AQMD from adopting regulations that require
private fleet owners to purchase clean-fueled vehicles. Nonetheless, the
court held open the possibility that the fleet rules are valid as applied to
public fleets, and it further suggested that they may be valid “as applied
beyond the purchase of new vehicles (e.g., to lease arrangements or to the
purchase of used vehicles).”
AQMD’s clean fleet rules include seven measures requiring fleet operators
of transit buses, school buses, trash trucks, airport shuttles and taxis,
street sweepers and heavy-duty utility trucks, to buy clean-fueled models
when they replace vehicles or add to their fleets of 15 or more vehicles.
Since their adoption, the rules have put more than 5,500 clean-fueled and
lower-emission vehicles on the road. (See fact sheet for further details.)
In addition, fleet operators may voluntarily add clean-fueled vehicles to
their fleets, particularly if incentive funding is available to assist
them. AQMD is sponsoring a bill this year in the California Legislature, SB
1247, authored by Sen. Nell Soto, to provide a permanent source of funding
to help replace heavy-duty diesel vehicles and equipment with clean-fueled
models.
In spite of today’s ruling, AQMD is moving ahead with several measures to
reduce smog-forming and cancer-causing emissions from mobile sources,
including:
- a bill in the California Legislature -- SB 1397 sponsored by Sen.
Martha Escutia – requiring railroads to reduce their fair share of air
pollution. Railroads in the region emit nearly 39 tons per day of
smog-forming oxides of nitrogen, more than the 350 largest industrial
facilities in the Los Angeles Basin combined;
- a proposed rule to reduce emissions from “yard hostlers” used to move
cargo containers at the ports; and
- numerous additional rules to reduce emissions from the region’s
businesses and industry.
AQMD’s Governing Board adopted its fleet rules following completion of
the agency’s landmark Multiple Air Toxics Exposure Study, which showed that
80 percent of the cancer risk from air pollution is due to diesel exhaust.
Most of the vehicles regulated under the fleet rules are diesel-powered.
The fleet rules also were an important strategy to reduce emissions from
mobile sources, which collectively are responsible for about 75 percent of
the region’s smog-forming emissions.
“Today’s decision ups the ante for California and the federal government
to do their part in reducing mobile source emissions,” Wallerstein said.
“In order to achieve federally mandated clean air standards, the state
and federal governments must move quickly to adopt aggressive regulations on
all mobile sources. This includes cars, trucks and buses, and especially
those sources that have escaped stringent emission requirements, including
ships, trains, aircraft and off-road equipment.”
Although AQMD has overall responsibility under the federal Clean Air Act
to achieve healthful air quality in the Southland, the agency’s authority is
primarily restricted to businesses and industry, which emit less than 25
percent of all smog-forming air pollution. The California Air Resources
Board and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have virtually sole
authority to set emission standards for mobile sources.
Fleet Rules Litigation
The Engine Manufacturers Association, a Chicago-based trade group
representing diesel engine makers, sued AQMD in U.S. District Court in Los
Angeles in August 2000 following AQMD’s adoption of its first fleet rules.
The Western States Petroleum Association, a Sacramento-based association
representing major oil refineries, later joined the lawsuit. Five
environmental organizations -- the Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense
Council, Coalition for Clean Air, Communities for a Better Environment and
Planning and Conservation League -- intervened as defendants in the lawsuit
in support of AQMD.
The trial court dismissed the lawsuit in its entirety on August 28, 2001,
finding that the fleet rules did not violate the Clean Air Act because they
did not impose any new emission requirements on manufacturers.
Plaintiffs appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth
Circuit, which on October 24, 2002, unanimously affirmed the trial court's
decision. Plaintiffs then sought review in the Supreme Court of the United
States, and on June 9, 2003, the court agreed to take up the case. (Engine
Manufacturers Association and Western States Petroleum Association v. South
Coast Air Quality Management District et al., Supreme Court case No.
02-1343)
Last year, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a “friend-of-the-court”
brief supporting the industry plaintiffs. Plaintiffs and the Bush
Administration argued that AQMD’s fleet rules violated section 209(a) of the
federal Clean Air Act. That section bars states and local governments from
adopting “any standard relating to the control of emissions from new motor
vehicles.” The Clean Air Act reserves that authority for the federal
government. The one exception is the state of California, which is allowed
to set stricter emission standards than the federal government.
In oral arguments before the Supreme Court on Jan. 14, former U.S.
Solicitor General Seth Waxman, representing AQMD, told the court that the
fleet rules are not standards requiring vehicle manufacturers to produce or
sell anything, but are instead requirements that regulated fleet owners
purchase from among the cleanest vehicles that are already commercially
available.
The state of California and 16 other states, along with 20 organizations
including the National League of Cities, National Conference of State
Legislatures, National Association of Counties and U.S. Conference of
Mayors, filed friend-of-the-court briefs supporting AQMD.
AQMD is the air pollution control agency for Orange County and major
portions of Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside counties.
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