I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
Legislation to delay by two years the adoption of tougher emission standards for automobiles sold here in New Mexico cleared the House Business and Industry Committee on Tuesday.
The bill would make 2013, rather than 2011, the effective date for New Mexico to adopt what is commonly referred to as the California Clean Car Standard.
The Land of Enchantment is one of more than a dozen states across the country to have adopted the standard, which would require reductions of emissions of ozone-forming pollutants, as well as particulate matter, in automobiles sold here.
A similar bill meant to delay New Mexico’s adoption of the standard passed the Senate over the weekend.
Charles Henson of the New Mexico Automotive Dealers Association told House lawmakers on Tuesday that the state needs to delay adopting the standard because the federal government is about to adopt a national standard. And auto manufacturers shouldn’t have to react to a patchwork of differing state laws across the land when they are manufacturing vehicles.
But advocates of the measure say putting off the standard for two years would mean more greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere and fewer benefits for low-income New Mexicans. One environmental group has estimated that the adoption of the California Clean Car Standard would lead to $200 per year in fuel cost savings.
The clean car standard, first proposed and adopted by California, applies to manufacturers, not consumers.
New Mexico first adopted the California Clean Car Standard in 2007 with the goal of having it go into effect in the 2011 model year. But some Democratic lawmakers and auto manufacturers sued the state, challenging its authority to mandate emission standards. An appeals court late last year revived the lawsuit after a state district court shot it down.
Meanwhile, at the federal level, the Obama administration has reversed a federal ban put in place by the Bush administration on allowing states to set their own vehicle emission standards. That conceivably could clear the way for states, including New Mexico, to impose their own emission standards for automobiles sold in their respective areas.
The House bill to delay the standard now goes to the House floor.
