Gov. Jim Douglas will testify before a Senate committee in Washington today about his dismay at the Environmental Protection Agency’s refusal to allow Vermont and 15 other states to regulate vehicle emissions.
Douglas will join governors from Pennsylvania and Maryland who object to the agency’s decision not to grant California a waiver that would have allowed for its first-in-the-nation greenhouse gas limits on cars.
Vermont won a lawsuit this year in federal court that would allow the state the right to set its own greenhouse gas emission standards.
But without the EPA waiver, Vermont and other states cannot enact the standards.
Douglas says most of Vermont’s greenhouse gases are emitted by automobiles. He says for the country to significantly reduce its carbon footprint, every state must have the option of setting high but achievable standards for reducing vehicle emissions.