CARB Staff Proposal Repeals ZEV Mandate

Capitulates to Oil and Auto Industry

January 8, 1996 -- The California Air Resources Board staff has struck a deal with automakers to repeal the state's Zero Emission Vehicle program and replace it with an inadequate, unenforceable voluntary program that is an embarrassment to the once-credible regulatory agency. This unprecedented deal demonstrates how oil and auto industry pressure have fueled political distortions of science-based policy.

This deal asks us to trust the car companies who have never earned our trust. They've never made a cleaner car voluntarily," says Jamie Phillips, media and research director for the Planning and Conservation League Foundation, a statewide conservation group. "CARB is putting faith in the car companies. It's blind faith."

The deal, released today, is open for public comment for 45 days before the board votes on the staff proposal.

"We will urge the CARB board members to reject this poorly conceived staff plan," Phillips said. Environmentalists will also recommend that the board strengthen the plan with more specific binding language which assures a ramp-up to support technology development and larger volume production levels. Today's plan proves that the car companies have managed to pull CARB into their campaign to suppress electric vehicle technology and cripple the small start-up companies that are on the cutting edge, Phillips said.

Adopted in 1990, the original Zero Emission Vehicle program required major manufacturers to produce and offer for sale 2 percent ZEVs in 1998, 5 percent in 2001, and 10 percent in 2003. It was developed as part of the state's plan to clean up the air. Cars generate 70 percent of California's health and environment-threatening smog.

Environmentalists question CARB's assertion that this car company deal will provide the same reduction in emissions that the prior ZEV program would. The plan depends on existing low-emission vehicle technology, coupled with expected emissions reductions from the 49-state car, a cleaner-burning car that will be sold in other states beginning in 2001. The assumption is that California will benefit when people move to this state and bring the cleaner cars with them.

"In December, when CARB announced plans to suspend the existing program, one representative noted that the devil is in the details. It's clear where this deal was struck," Phillips said.