Hybrid Car Review

Mary Nichols, chairwoman of the California Air Resources Board, told reporters "We do not want to negotiate away other states' rights," at the annual SAE International government industry conference.

She was responding to a possible compromise between California and the federal government on allowing California to set greenhouse gas emission rules while keeping other states out of it.

California has been fighting to force the EPA to grant a waiver granting them permission to set their own emissions guidelines (in other words, their own fuel economy guidelines). The EPA denied the waiver despite opposition from within Congress and the threat of lawsuits by California and other states as well as court rulings supporting the California case. If California succeeds in obtaining a waiver, other states will quickly follow suit to set their own rules.

Automakers oppose any statewide rules, saying it could lead to market chaos as they meet each state's regulations. They want a federal rule to govern them. Of course, the federal rules are a little more lenient than what California is proposing, so there's more than 'market chaos' involved.

Dave McCurdy re-iterated the "campaign promises don't mean anything" stance (stated by Wagoner earlier), pointing out the new president, whoever wins out, may not follow through on their promises to favor state-by-state rules. McCurdy is the president of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, which represents Toyota, Ford, GM, Chrysler and others.