Make EPA do its job.

Byline: The Register-Guard

In December 2005, California asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for a waiver allowing the state to impose stricter limits on vehicle emissions as part of its landmark initiative to combat global warming.

Nineteen months later, the EPA still hasn't given California an answer. The agency's inaction has left California, Oregon and 10 other states unable to put in place the nation's toughest regulations on tailpipe emissions.

That's unacceptable. The Bush administration's stonewalling of 12 states, along with several others waiting to see how the EPA rules before adopting the new standards, has gone on long enough. The Senate should approve legislation introduced by Sens. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and Bill Nelson, D-Fla., that would force the EPA to make a decision on California's waiver request by the end of September.

Under the federal Clean Air Act, California can set stricter anti-pollution rules than the federal government, but only if the EPA grants a waiver. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has threatened to sue to force the EPA to stop its foot-dragging, but it could take months for the courts to provide resolution.

EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson recently told the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, which is headed by Boxer, that he had committed to a decision by the end of the year. But he cautioned that the agency needs time to go through the 60,000 comments it has received on California's request.

No one should hold their breath. The Bush administration shows no signs of cooperating with individual states or Congress in restricting greenhouse gas emissions. It refuses to do so, even though the U.S. Supreme Court in May ruled that the EPA has the authority - and responsibility - to regulate heat-trapping greenhouse gases in auto emissions

There also are disturbing indications that the administration already has made up its mind on the waiver request. Even as the EPA was soliciting public comment on the waiver in recent weeks, the Department of Transportation secretly was lobbying members of Congress and governors to state their opposition to California's request. According to documents recently released by the U.S. House Oversight Committee, federal transportation staffers - using talking points prepared by a trade group representing automakers - called members of Congress and governors and urged them to register their opposition to the waiver.

Meanwhile, President Bush, the global warming ostrich in chief, has ordered federal agencies to develop proposals for regulating vehicle emissions and reducing fuel consumption by the time he leaves office in January 2009. That's solid evidence that he intends to run out the clock and leave the problem of global warming to his successor.

California and other states understand that delay is no longer an option. In addition to the new emissions standards that Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski put in place through an executive order last year, the 2007 Legislature approved one of the toughest renewable energy standards in the nation and set an aggressive goal of reducing greenhouse emissions in Oregon to levels that are at least 75 percent below 1990 levels by 2020. Kulongoski also has joined with California and other Western states in devising a strategy for further reducing emissions, with discussions focusing on a regional cap-and-trade system that allows polluters to buy and sell greenhouse pollution credits.

As promising as these initiatives are, they're a poor substitute for a comprehensive federal global warming policy. If the Bush administration refuses to lead the way in creating such a strategy, then it should get out of the way and let the states do it on their own.

A good place to start would be for the EPA to approve California's waiver request. Congress should make sure that the agency issues its ruling before Oct. 1 by approving the Boxer-Nelson legislation.

Make EPA do its job

Congress should set a deadline for emissions ruling