GEORGE A. GONZALEZ - fieldi

12THE POLITICS OF AIR POLLUTIONrealm of automobile and fuel emissions. The Federal Air Quality Act of 1967,for example, sought to establish one national automobile emission standardwhen states such as New York and California were setting their own standards(Krier and Ursin 1977, chap. 11). In addition, I (2001a, chap. 6)explain that the primary motive underlying the formulation of the FederalClean Air Act of 1990 was to stabilize the nation’s automobile and fuel emissionstandards.Specifically, I point out how in the mid- to late 1980s state and local-levelpolicies were threatening to create a multi-tiered system of regulations onautomobile and fuel emissions. In the area of automobile emissions, leadinginto 1989, the United States had a two-tier regulatory structure, with Californiahaving one standard and the federal government having its own weakerstandard. Within the span of a few months, this system was substantially complicated.Specifically, in the summer of 1989, New York, New Jersey, and theNew England states announced their intention to adopt the California emissionstandard. In September of that year, California announced its plan toestablish an even stronger set of standards than it currently had in place. Thiscreated the potential of a three-tier automobile emission standard system: (1)the existing federal standard; (2) the old California standard (adopted by NewYork, New Jersey, and New England); and (3) the newly announced Californiastandard. And while these actions involved only a handful of states, theycollectively composed about 20 to 30 percent of the U.S. automotive market.Additionally, these state-level actions created a potentially significantlegal and political dilemma. Up until this time, it had been both politicallyand legally accepted that states could either adopt the California automobileemission standard or the weaker federal standard. The possibility of a threetieremission system created the legal and political uncertainty about whetherstates could adopt an emission standard that varied from the three standardsthat were seemingly going to come into existence.Before the policy actions of these states took effect, thereby creating asignificant production and distribution—as well as a legal and political—problem for automobile manufacturers, the federal government stepped inwith the Clean Air Act of 1990. With this act, the federal governmentadopted the existing California automobile emission standard, and thus reinstateda two-tier automobile emission regulatory system. Moreover, erasingany legal ambiguity concerning the ability of states to establish their ownautomotive emission standards apart from those of the federal government’sor California’s, the Clean Air Act of 1990 contains a “no third vehicle”clause. Legal scholar John Ridge (1994) explains that this aspect of the Actprevents “the states from adopting new tailpipe emissions standards whichcause or have the effect of causing the [automobile] manufacturers to have tocreate a new vehicle or engine” apart from those prompted by the federal andCalifornia emission standards (176).