ABSTRACT
In one of his first actions after assuming office, President Barack Obama directed the U.S. EPA to move ahead on an application by California for a waiver under the Clean Air Act that would allow the state to set the nation’s strictest automobile emission and fuel efficiency standards. The request was an integral element of California’s comprehensive plan to curb greenhouse gas emissions, and the president had pledged during the campaign to support the state’s request.1 Obama’s decision to follow through on that promise and the subsequent approval by his newly appointed EPA administrator, Lisa Jackson, reversed the Bush administration’s persistent denial of California’s waiver request. In April Jackson’s EPA also followed through on a 2007 Supreme Court ruling that required the agency to review scientific evidence about the danger posed by greenhouse gases. It concluded in a so-called endangerment finding that they did contribute to air pollution that may endanger public health or welfare, setting the stage for possible EPA regulation.2
