Advocates seeking to adopt California emission standards

Auto dealers want a panel of scientists to examine the data first, then make a recommendation

Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2007

Environmental advocates, armed with a new study revealing the dangers in the air, are calling for Maryland to adopt California-style emission standards to reduce toxic pollution from automobiles and trucks.

The study shows counties across Maryland, on average, have 40 times the federal standard for the air toxins.

‘‘The numbers in this study are very startling, and they reinforce that air pollution is a silent killer,” said Brad Heavner, state director of Environment Maryland, an environmental research and lobbying group in Baltimore and Annapolis.

Environment Maryland published the study based on U.S. Environmental Protection Agency readings taken in 1999 but released in 2006. Baltimore city exceeds the federal standard by 62 times, Montgomery and Baltimore counties by 45 times, and Prince George’s County by 41 times.

The study included benzene, acetaldehyde and 1,3-butadiene. Benzene is known to cause cancer. The other compounds are listed as probable carcinogens.

If Maryland adopts the tougher automobile emissions standards, pollution would be cut 57 percent to 79 percent, the study says. The reduction would be the equivalent of removing 190,000 of today’s cars off the road.

The so-called Clean Cars legislation would call for automobiles in the 2011 model year, which would be on sale in 2010, to meet the tougher emissions standards.

Automobile dealers object to the plan. They want the state to form a commission of scientists to review the data and make a recommendation to the General Assembly.

‘‘We’re prepared to stand by whatever the commission decides,” said John J. Fitzgerald Jr., chairman of the board of the Washington Area New Auto Dealers Association in Washington and a car dealer.

Although Fitzgerald said he expected an answer by September 2007, the advocates see the commission as a delaying tactic.

Eleven other states have adopted tougher emissions standards, including Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

The bill would require any vehicle titled or registered in Maryland to meet the standards. Even so, the auto dealers association remains concerned about the effect on cross-border sales. Association President Gerard N. Murphy said it could hurt Virginia and Washington buyers who would come to Maryland to make a purchase. And Maryland is about as far south as the tougher emission controls will reach, he said.

‘‘Virginia is a part of Dixie, and it will be next to never before they’d adopt a California car,” Murphy said.

The bill also calls for a reduction in carbon dioxide pollution. Fitzgerald said that could happen only by selling smaller engines. Heavner said the reduction could be accomplished through advanced technology.

Del. Jane E. Lawton (D-Dist. 18) of Chevy Chase said carmakers must recognize that this is a measure that can be taken, at minimal cost, to improve air quality.

But she added, ‘‘We may need to look at how they apply this as far as geography is concerned.”

Lawton, speaking at a Dec. 26 news conference in Bethesda on the measure, is a member of the House Environmental Matters Committee, which will take up the legislation. Del. Elizabeth Bobo (D-Dist. 12B) of Columbia is expected to be the lead House sponsor. Sen. Brian E. Frosh (D-Dist. 16) of Bethesda will sponsor the Senate version.

Similar versions have failed in 2004 and 2005. Del. William A. Bronrott (D-Dist. 16) of Bethesda said he expects the bill to pass in 2007.

‘‘I think there has been a significant change in public awareness on this issue and a range of other environmental issues since then,” Bronrott said. ‘‘I think, whereas we were essentially shut out by the Ehrlich administration for the four years ... I think this is going to be part of a package of bills the new administration can embrace.”

News conferences in Bethesda and Baltimore last week also showcased doctors who support the legislation. The American Lung Association and the American Cancer Society, however, sat out the events. Both organizations are putting their weight behind a measure to halt smoking in bars and restaurants.

House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Dist. 30) of Annapolis said that lawmakers have more interest in the anti-smoking bill, and that the Clean Cars legislation is relatively new to some in the assembly. But both bills could pass before the end of the four-year term, Busch said.

Bonita Pennino, government relations director for the American Cancer Society in Silver Spring, rejected the idea that one bill would pass over another.

‘‘The mission of the members of the Maryland General Assembly is to protect the public, and both of these pieces of legislation protect the public,” she said.