Obama instructs EPA to reconsider California’s emissions limit request
Last updated 1/29/2009 2:40:05 PM
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US President Barack Obama, who took office last week, would direct the Environmental Protection Agency to reconsider a request by California to impose its own strict limits on automobile carbon dioxide emissions.
This move is seen as a reversal on former President George W. Bush's climate change policies, with steps to raise fuel efficiency standards and grant states authority to limit greenhouse gas emissions from cars.
The request was denied under the Bush administration, prompting California and several other states to sue. The official said a final decision by the EPA would likely take several months.
If the EPA reverses the previous ruling, more than twelve US states could proceed with plans to impose strict carbon dioxide
limits.
California intends to reduce the emissions by 30% by 2016, the most ambitious federal or state effort to address global warming.
Source: Reuters