As the new home of OSPIRG's environmental work, Environment Oregon can be contacted regarding this news release.
Benefits
for Southern Oregon Include Clean Air, Global Warming Solutions, Energy
Independence—DEQ To Hold Hearings In Medford Tuesday
MEDFORD—Southern
Oregon’s roads have seen a 14% increase in traffic since 1991, and
Josephine County has seen a 24% increase, according to analysis released by the Oregon State Public Interest Research Group
(OSPIRG) in advance of a public hearing here on the proposed Clean Cars
program. The increase means more air pollution in the Rogue Valley,
more global warming pollution that threatens Oregon’s water supply, and
more dependence on oil for our energy. A proposed Clean Cars program
will provide solutions for all three problems.
“The
good news is that the Clean Cars program will cut global warming
pollution, help clean the air in the Rogue Valley, and cut our
dependence on oil,” said Jeremiah Baumann, a clean energy advocate for
OSPIRG and author of the analysis. “That’s why Oregon should move as
quickly as possible to put the Clean Cars program in place.”
The
Clean Cars program is a package of vehicle emissions standards
supported by Governor Ted Kulongoski. The Department of Environmental
Quality has proposed enacting the standards this year. The program was
adopted by a temporary regulation in December, but the agency will take
public comments, including a public hearing in Medford, before making
the program permanent. Model-year 2009 vehicles would include the
cleaner cars.
The
Clean Cars program includes Oregon’s first mandatory caps on global
warming pollution from cars and trucks, one of the top sources of
global warming pollution in the state. Scientist have already measured
a 50% decline in snowpack in the Cascades tied to global warming.
Declining snowpack means less water available for salmon migration and
farm irrigation in Southern Oregon, likely leading to even bigger water
supply problems in basins like the Klamath River. If policymakers fail
to act, global warming pollution from cars and trucks in Oregon will be
31% higher than 1990 levels by 2020, according to OSPIRG research. The
Clean Cars program would require new cars and trucks to cut their
emissions 30% by 2016.
The
Clean Cars program also makes cuts in the vehicle pollution that forms
smog, which causes respiratory problems and impairs visibility, and in
toxic emissions that threaten health. The Rogue Valley, because of its
geography and pollution from vehicles and from industry, has struggled
to control air pollution. Clean cars under the program will emit
between 12% and 38% less pollution for a range of health-threatening
pollutants.
Automakers
are likely to comply with the Clean Cars program in part by increasing
gas mileage, which has been declining since the 1980s despite the
availability of reliable technology. Savings at the pump will more than
off-set the slight increase expected in the cost of a new car under the
program. OSPIRG’s analysis projects that by 2016, Oregon consumers will
experience annual net savings of more than $8 million. After
vehicle-owners’ loans are paid off, they will experience $40 million in
annual net savings.
“The
Clean Cars program really is a win-win-win situation,” said Baumann.
“It will curb global warming, cut air pollution and protect health in
the Rogue Valley, and save consumers money.”
The
public hearing will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday, February 21 at the
Community Justice Center in Medford, 1101 W Main St., Suite 101.
