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Story originally printed in the Winona Daily News or online at www.winonadailynews.com

Published - Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Clean Cars legislation is good news for Minnesota

By Steve Morse

Minnesota is on the brink of becoming a clean car state — and that’s great news for our state.

The Clean Cars Act, now being debated at the state Capitol, will improve fuel efficiency and reduce global warming and air pollution from new passenger vehicles by 30 percent by 2016.

As the former state senator for the Winona area and now head of the Minnesota Environmental Partnership, I thought area residents would want to understand how the Clean Cars Act will benefit them.

First of all, we will continue to have the freedom to buy the vehicles we want, whether those are trucks, SUVs, mini-vans or passenger sedans. We will have as many choices as we do today, and we can use different blends of ethanol if we choose. Minnesotans will still be able to haul trailers and machinery to our job sites or farms, take our families to the ballgame, or pull our boats to launch in the river. Plus, vehicles over 8,500 pounds and commercial vehicles are not subject to the legislation.

Examples of vehicles currently on the market that already meet the clean car standards include SUVs (GMC Yukon, Chevrolet Suburban, and Chevrolet Tahoe), trucks (Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra), and minivans (Chevrolet Uplander and Saturn Relay). When running on E-85 fuel, all of these vehicles meet the clean car standards.

Plus, this legislation doesn’t apply to off-highway vehicles, street rods and other recreational vehicles. The only real change is that the vehicles we drive will be cleaner for our air and cost us fewer dollars to fill at the gas pump. The clean cars bill is expected to result in $260 million in savings to consumers in Minnesota, as a direct savings through improved efficiency and fuel savings at the pump.

Second, clean car legislation will help meet our state’s goal of reducing global warming pollution by 80 percent by 2050. In fact, the climate change task force appointed by Gov. Tim Pawlenty and dominated by business and industry recommended that Minnesota adopt the clean car standards. This group, the Minnesota Climate Change Advisory Group, estimated that the Clean Cars standard will remove 13 million metric tons of global warming pollution from our air. That alone should prompt every mom and dad in our state to urge legislators to pass this legislation — for the health of our children.

Third, just because these standards were first developed in California doesn’t mean we are abdicating our ability to “rule ourselves.” We maintain our ability for our Legislature to opt out of any standard, any time, if for some reason it does not benefit our state. We will be our own keepers.

And if those aren’t reasons enough to support the clean cars legislation, Minnesotans should also consider what will happen to the inventory of vehicles offered for sale here, if we don’t adopt these standards. Already 13 states representing more than 40 percent of the country’s population have adopted these standards. What will the car manufacturers do with the outdated, polluting vehicles they will no longer be able to sell in these other states? Where will those dirty cars be shipped? Chances are, if we don’t adopt clean car standards, we will become the dumping ground for the auto industry. While other states enjoy a selection of clean cars — with Iowa and Illinois possibly joining those ranks soon — Minnesota may be stuck with the “not so clean” car inventory. I don’t think any of us want that to happen.

And remember that this

law applies to manufacturers, not consumers. It’s up to

manufacturers to show that the cars and trucks they produce beginning in 2012 meet better standards. The law doesn’t affect the cars and trucks we already own. We won’t need to have them tested for emissions, and we won’t have to pay for any upgrades or changes to them.

As car buyers, we will be able to choose from a full array of cars and trucks that will allow us to drive more miles on a gallon of gas. As gas prices continue to rise, maybe we won’t have to cancel our plans for summer road trips in order to save money. Now that will be great “Clean Car/Clean Air/Less Pain at the Pump” news for Minnesotans.

Morse is the executive director for the Minnesota Environmental Partnership.