Automakers are facing yet another indication of a sea change in vehicle emissions regulation, with Florida poised to adopt California 's 2009 emissions regulations. The adoption would make Florida the first state in the Southeast - and the thirteenth overall - to join the more stringent California regulations, aiming to bring a 25-percent cut in vehicle greenhouse gas emissions versus the current federal standard.
Florida , the nation's fourth most populous state, has more cars per capita than any other. What's more, the Sunshine State is also ahead of the national average, per capita, in new-car purchases. So the matter is expected to meet some heavy resistance from automakers.
The move was delivered as one of several new executive orders from Florida's new Republican governor, Charlie Crist, who has been championing climate-change and environmental quality issues - despite resistance from some of the state's GOP mainliners - and taking the lead from California's Republican governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Last week in Miami, Crist hosted the Florida Summit on Global Climate Change, an event that brought together politicians, environmentalists, scientists, and business leaders to discuss how to implement reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions.
Crist seeks to adopt stricter regulation on greenhouse-gas emissions from the state's utilities and upgrade the states building codes - aiming to reduce the use of fossil fuels - and urged adoption of California's tougher regulations on vehicle tailpipe emissions. An announcement was made to favor E85 and biodiesel vehicles for the state fleet was also made, and Crist has reportedly already planned to have solar panels installed at the Governor's Mansion to coincide with the announcement.
California , along with the other states that have committed to the state's new standards, has been waiting for a waiver from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) before implementing the new rules. In recent weeks, the U.S. Department of Transportation itself has been accused of lobbying on behalf of U.S. automaker interests to deny the waiver, in advance of a June 15 deadline for public comments regarding the request.
Congress is currently weighing on new fuel economy legislation, already passed in the Senate and now under consideration in the House, that would raise fleet-wide fuel economy to 35 mpg by 2020, and the waiver situation is currently under investigation by the House Oversight Committee.
The announcement and summit do come at a time when Florida officials are becoming especially worried about scientists' predictions that sea levels are rising rapidly and will continue to do so in the next several decades; and while the cause of changing weather patterns might not be apparent, they're also concerned about predictions that put the state at greater risk of being in the path of catastrophic hurricanes.
Time.com quoted Crist last week as saying, "…I think there may be less of a fight here than we might imagine. There is a consensus of opinion and a desire among Floridians to do this."
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