Opinion ID: 675689
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Cars and the Clean Air Act

Text: 3 The exhaust from a gasoline-powered engine is a source of air pollution. Motor Vehicle Mfrs. Ass'n v. New York Dep't of Envtl. Conservation, 17 F.3d 521, 524 (2d Cir.1994) (hereinafter MVMA ). Emissions from car tailpipes include hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides (NO subx ), constituents of ground-level ozone, a major component of smog. Id. at 526. 4 The Clean Air Act is the federal legislation governing tailpipe emissions. The Act directs the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to establish national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for pollutants such as ground-level ozone. Under the Act, states are responsible for developing and enforcing a plan, subject to EPA approval, for attaining and maintaining the NAAQS by regulating sources of air pollution. 42 U.S.C. Sec. 7410(a). States failing to meet the NAAQS risk sanctions, including the loss of federal highway funds. Id. Sec. 7509. EPA has designated the entire state of Massachusetts as a serious nonattainment area for the ozone NAAQS. See 56 Fed.Reg. 56,694, 56,776 (Nov. 6, 1991). 5 Mobile sources of air pollution such as cars and trucks are subject to EPA regulation under Secs. 202 and 207 of the Act, 42 U.S.C. Secs. 7521, 7541. EPA emissions standards for hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides apply to a given vehicle based on its weight, use classification, and model year. See id. Secs. 7521, 7541; MVMA, 17 F.3d at 525-26. 6 State regulation of motor vehicle emissions is generally preempted by the Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. Sec. 7543(a), with one exception: California can enforce its own standards, subject to EPA approval by way of a waiver under Sec. 209(b) of the Act, id. Sec. 7543(b) (the waiver requirement). Consequently, there can be only two types of cars created under emissions regulations in this country: California cars and federal (that is, EPA-regulated) cars. See id. Sec. 7507. Other states cannot take any action that would force manufacturers to create a third vehicle. 1 Id. (the third vehicle requirement). 7 Section 177 of the Act allows other states to adopt standards identical to California's (the identicality requirement), but only if there is a two-year time lapse between the time the standards are adopted and the first model year affected by those standards (the leadtime requirement). Id. Similarly, Sec. 211 of the Act authorizes EPA to regulate motor fuels and preempts any unapproved state regulations, except for California, which may enact fuel standards without EPA approval. Id. Sec. 7545(c)(4)(B). 8