Sacramento - California officials say they plan to enforce the state's regulation requiring the nation's most fuel-efficient vehicles as soon as the federal government grants the state a waiver from less-stringent national standards.

California is poised to reduce auto emissions with stricter fuel efficiency standards. (Photo: Getty Images)

    The move is expected this spring.

    The regulation would have the single largest impact on the state's ambitious goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent by 2020 under the landmark legislation AB32.

    Delayed by the Bush administration since 2005, the rule would require automakers to produce vehicles that cut greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent by 2016, resulting in an average vehicle fuel-efficiency of 35.7 miles per gallon - far higher than the current federal standard of 27.5 mpg for cars and 22.3 mpg for SUVs and light trucks.

    The rule would have wide-ranging impact on the types of cars, minivans, SUVs and trucks that consumers will see in California dealerships.

    President Obama ordered his environmental officials on Monday to immediately review California's regulation, strongly hinting that he would like to allow the state and 13 others to move forward with stricter emissions standards. The federal government, under former President Bush, refused to grant the waiver in 2007 after two years of deliberation.

    "The president's action is a great victory for California and for cleaning the air around the nation for generations to come," Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said at a state Capitol news conference. "Soon millions of Americans will be able to breathe easier and drive more fuel-efficient cars."

    Automobile manufacturers, who have been lobbying heavily against the federal waiver, declined to criticize Obama's decision but argued that a nationwide standard is a better approach than allowing individual states to have separate vehicle-emissions standards.

    "We are ready to work with the administration on developing a national approach," said Dave McCurdy, president and CEO of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers. The organization represents 11 manufacturers, including Ford, General Motors, Chrysler, Mazda and Toyota.

    Environmental groups applauded the president's decision.

    "What a difference an election makes," said Bernadette De Chiaro, a lobbyist for Environment California, a lobby group. "For the past eight years, America's engine for ingenuity and progress on the environment was stuck in reverse under the Bush administration. And today, President Obama has taken America from zero to 60 in six days."

    Linda Adams, secretary of California's state Environmental Protection Agency, said she expects federal EPA officials to grant the waiver in the spring and the state to implement the new regulation immediately. The new rule would cover current 2009 model automobiles, some of which began appearing in dealerships in the fall.

    Adams and state air board officials said they believe automakers should be able to meet the requirements of the new rule for this year's vehicles because automakers were alerted that the 2009-model engines would come under the new regulation within 45 days if a federal waiver were granted.

    In addition, state officials believe most automakers have begun using many of the technologies that would make vehicles more fuel efficient, placing them on track to meet the requirements of the new rule.

    Automakers would be required to annually report emissions figures on their vehicles to be sold in California, but the final determination of whether each company has met the requirements won't occur until 2016, said Tom Cackette, deputy director of the California Air Resources Board.

    Edward B. Cohen, vice president of governmental and industry relations for Honda, said that if the new standards are adopted, "every single component of the vehicle is going to have to be examined to make sure the vehicle is more fuel-efficient." That will mean continued technological improvements on car engines as well as using lighter-weight steel, he said.

    But state officials said automakers already have begun to use proven technologies to improve fuel efficiency. For example, the Honda Odyssey minivan's engine shuts down certain cylinders when cruising at high speeds on freeways, and Volkswagen's smaller, gas-sipping engines compensate for lower power by adding a turbo-charge, said Stanley Young, a spokesman for the state air board.

    And while adding more hybrids and electric vehicles to the fleet would certainly help, automakers should be able to meet the requirements of the new regulation mostly by adopting smaller design changes in traditional, gas-powered automobiles, Young said.

    But consumers are likely to have to pay higher prices on new vehicles, and dealers might not carry some automobiles in California, said Peter Welch, President and CEO of the California New Car Dealers Association. Welch added that higher prices could drive car-shoppers to purchase older vehicles that pollute more.

    "You can mandate the manufacturer to make them, but you can't mandate that consumers buy them," he said.

    Welch said California consumers also might be compelled to leave the state to buy cars.

    "There's nothing stopping someone from San Francisco or Sacramento to drive to Reno to buy one," he said. That would end up hurting state and local governments, which collect sales taxes. New car sales have declined significantly, by 23 percent between 2007 and 2008, Welch said.

    But state officials said the state's emissions rule would simply encourage automakers to innovate.

    "This will result in better-engineered cars that use off-the-shelf technologies that are already available to get the reductions in emissions," Young said.

    Cutting State's Vehicle Emissions

    How California would regulate automakers if federal officials allow it to enforce the nation's strictest emissions rules:

    New vehicles sold in California would have to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent by 2016, resulting in an average vehicle fuel-efficiency of 35.7 miles per gallon. Federal fuel-efficiency standards are 27.5 mpg for cars and 22.3 mpg for light trucks.

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    Source: California Air Resources Board, Chronicle Research.

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