 Auto
 Emissions
 Mexico
 Dick
Cheney
|
 Mary
E Peters
MARY PETERS News:
20080423
-
Mary
Peters -
 Covert
- Language
-  Law
-  Politics
- Greenhouse
Gases - Clean
Air Act -  Environmental
- Transportation
- Auto
- Makers
-  Fuel
-  Economy
- San
Francisco -  California
-  Massachusetts
-  US
-  Global
-  Climate
- "Bush
fuel economy rules swipe at California." ... "When
the [Republican President] Bush administration announced proposed regulations
Tuesday to raise fuel economy standards for cars and trucks to 31.6 miles
per gallon by 2015, even some environmentalists applauded. But then they
read the fine print." ... "Tucked deep into a 417-page "Notice of Proposed
Rulemaking" was language by the Transportation Department stating that
more stringent limits on tailpipe emissions embraced by California and
17 other states are "an obstacle to the accomplishment" of the new federal
standards and are "expressly and impliedly preempted" by federal law."
... "California Attorney General Jerry Brown called it a covert assault
on California's rules. Environmentalists said the language will be used
by automakers in their legal challenges to two recent federal court rulings
that sided with the states." ... "The language showed that beneath the
bipartisan veneer of support for new fuel economy standards - approved
by [the Democratic controlled] Congress and signed by [Republican] President
Bush in December - the conflict is still raging between the White House
and the states over who will set the nation's first limits on greenhouse
gases." ... "Transportation Secretary Mary Peters, who announced the proposed
rules Tuesday, acknowledged that the preemption language was included in
the document." ... "The Supreme Court ruled in the Massachusetts vs. EPA
case last year that the Transportation Department's authority to set fuel
economy standards should not impede other efforts under the Clean Air Act
to reduce greenhouse gases." ... "[California Democratic Representative
and] House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D[Democratic]-San Francisco [California],
responded: "The administration is continuing to block climate change progress
by asserting that California doesn't have the right to move forward with
its own global warming regulations. That is completely unjustified."" -By
Zachary Coile -SFGate.com
20080213
-
Mary
E Peters
- Corporate
-
 Government
- Politics
- Trucking
- Safety
- Trucks
- Emissions
- Law
- Environmental
- Clean
Air Act -  Union
- San
Francisco - California
-  Texas
-  US
- Mexico
- "Greens,
Teamsters collide with Mexican trucks." ... "International
Brotherhood of Teamsters lobbyist Fred McLuckie thought his fight to keep
Mexican trucks out of America ended when Congress cut a pilot program’s
funding last December." ... "Instead, the veteran lobbyist is still in
the fight, after U.S. [United States Republican President Bush's] Transportation
Secretary Mary Peters continued to fund the program — a move many interest
groups and lawmakers say is unconstitutional." ... "“You never know what
to expect in this town,” McLuckie said. “It is certainly disappointing
that we’re going back at this program. Our immediate concern is that Mary
Peters isn’t following the law.”" ... "The program drew harsh criticism
from the Teamsters, citizen rights group Public Citizen and Owner-Operator
Independent Drivers Association [OOIDA], which have aligned to press safety
and pollution concerns with lawmakers. The groups say there is no guarantee
that the trucks are in compliance with U.S. safety or emissions standards."
... "“How is it that the administration can simply ignore a law?” said
OOIDA Executive Vice President Todd Spencer. “It’s frustrating and shocking
that we have such a clear and blatant violation of law by a rogue administration.”"
... "The Teamsters have also gotten support from an unlikely bedfellow:
the environmentalist Sierra Club. Greens are concerned that emissions from
Mexican trucks could cause El Paso, Texas, and other U.S. cities along
the border to violate Environmental Protection Agency regulations." ...
"“We think the increase of potential air pollution could put communities
along the border out of Clean Air Act compliance,” said Sierra Club spokesman
Oliver Bernstein." ... "The U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco [California]
heard oral arguments Tuesday over the plaintiff’s charges that Peters broke
federal laws and endangered American motorists by allowing the trucks on
the road." -By Erika Lovley
-Politico.com
20080103
-
United
States - Mexican
- Trucks- Transportation
- Safety
- Politics
- Corporate
- Government
-
 North
Dakota - "Mexican
trucks allowed deep into U.S. in defiance of Congress, lawmaker says."
... "The [Republican President] Bush administration is allowing Mexican
trucks to continue to travel deep into the United States despite what critics
say is a congressional mandate to ban the trucks from U.S. [United States]
highways." ... "Congress voted last year to halt funding for a pilot program
that allows Mexican 18-wheelers to begin traveling freely into United States
as part of the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement [NAFTA]. The Department
of Transportation contends, however, that the congressional action permits
the current program to continue while banning any new program." ... "The
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the DOT [Department of Transportation]
agency that regulates the program, quietly acknowledged last week that
the program is still under way, adding that it's issued permits to 11 Mexican
companies with a total of 56 trucks. Mexican trucks previously were confined
to a 25-mile border zone." ... "[North Dakota Democratic Senator] Sen.
Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., in a letter Thursday to Transportation Secretary
Mary Peters, scoffed at that interpretation and called on the Bush administration
to end the program immediately." -By Dave Montgomery
-McClatchyDC.com
20071219
-
 Stephen
Johnson - Mary
E Peters
- Dick
Cheney
- Government
- Political
- Gas
- Auto
- Makers
- Fuel
- Economy
- Laws
- Environmental
-  Health
- Safety
- American
-  People
- Transportation
- California
-  History
- Global
- Climate
- Clean
Air Act - "EPA
blocks California bid to limit greenhouse gases from cars."
... "The [Republican President] Bush administration blocked efforts by
California and 16 other states Wednesday to limit greenhouse gas emissions
from cars and trucks, setting up a political and legal fight over whether
states can take a lead role in combatting global warming." ... "[Republican
President Bush's] Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen
Johnson rejected California's request for a waiver from the federal government
to impose its tough tailpipe emissions standards. The other states were
poised to adopt similar rules if California's request was granted." ...
"The states represent nearly half the U.S. [United States] population,
and their laws would effectively require automakers to cut greenhouse gas
emissions nationwide, despite [Republican] President Bush's rejection of
mandatory national standards." ... "Johnson said Congress' passage of an
energy bill this week that raises fuel economy standards for all cars and
trucks to 35 miles per gallon by 2020 made the state laws unnecessary."
... "California officials said they believed Johnson had long ago decided
to oppose the state's waiver, and said he was using the newly passed energy
bill as an excuse. Nothing in the new law prevents states from taking stronger
action, they said." ... ""I find this disgraceful," said [California Democratic
Senator] Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.[Democratic-California], who helped
write the fuel-economy law. "The passage of the energy bill does not give
the EPA [Environmental Protection Agency] a green light to shirk its responsibility
to protect the health and safety of the American people from air pollution.""
... "It was the first time the EPA has flat-out denied a waiver request
by California under the Clean Air Act. The law gives California special
authority to set stronger standards because the state has a long history
of smog and other air-quality problems." ... "California officials complained
that EPA's decision-making process for the waiver was tainted months ago
when documents revealed that Transportation Secretary Mary Peters led a
lobbying campaign to urge lawmakers to call the EPA and oppose the waiver
request." ... "Automakers have been meeting regularly at the White House
to discuss the new fuel-economy standards. The Detroit News reported that
[Republican] Vice President Dick Cheney met with the CEOs [Chief Executive
Officers] of Chrysler and Ford this fall to try to influence the policy."
-By Zachary Coile -SFGate.com
200709025
-
Transportation
- Auto
- Industry
- Environmental
- Air
- Law
-
 Enforcement
- Politics
- Los
Angeles - CA
- "E-mails
show DOT chief fought state on emissions: Official
lobbied against letting California enforce own standard for tailpipe exhaust."
... "U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters, with the knowledge of
the [Republican President Bush] White House, directed a behind-the-scenes
effort to block California's request for its own, more stringent tailpipe
emission standard, according to documents released Monday by a congressional
committee." ... "A trail of e-mails show Peters prodding her staff this
spring to persuade members of Congress and state governors to oppose California's
request, now pending with the Environmental Protection Agency, to enforce
its own standards. To contact members, DOT staffers used a list of congressional
districts with auto facilities provided by the auto industry." ... "Secretary
Peters "asked that we develop some ideas A.S.A.P. about facilitating a
pushback from governors (esp. D's) and others opposed to piecemeal regulation
of emissions, as per CA's waiver petition," Jeff Shane, Peters' undersecretary
for policy, told staffers in a May 22 e-mail about the California request.
"Esp. D's" meant "especially Democrats."" ... "In another e-mail, a DOT
staffer told Peters' chief of staff that Marty Hall, chief of staff at
the White House Council on Environmental Quality, was "OK with (the secretary)
making calls" to lobby Congress." ... "The e-mails were released Monday
by [California Democratic Representative] Rep. Henry Waxman, chairman of
the House Oversight Committee. Waxman, a Los Angeles [California] Democrat,
said the documents, along with interviews with Hall and other staffers,
showed that "the administration is trying to stack the deck against California's
efforts to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles" and that
"political considerations — not the merits of the issue" — will determine
EPA's decision." ... "California is allowed under the Clean Air Act to
set its own emissions standards if it secures a waiver from the EPA. At
least 11 other states are waiting to adopt the California standard, designed
to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent from new models in 2016,
which has made this a major environmental issue." -By
Frank Davies -MNG
via -MercuryNews
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