LOS ANGELES, Feb. 7 (UPI) -- The head of California's air quality agency says a trade group representing automobile manufacturers misrepresents the state's efforts to curb greenhouse gases.
California Air Resources Board Chairman Mary D. Nichols wrote to seven major automobile manufacturers Monday, accusing their trade group, the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, of attempting to "undermine ... standards that will provide American consumers with cleaner and more efficient vehicles," the Los Angeles Times reported.
She accused the AAM of misrepresenting California's efforts to cooperate with federal officials on rules to curb emissions from cars and trucks.
The state, which under the federal Clean Air Act has the right to set its own car emission standards, has pledged to coordinate its regulations for post-2016 car models with a parallel federal effort to increase fuel-efficiency standards.
However, in a Jan. 11 letter to Congress the auto alliance charged California with undertaking "unilateral action" in a "rushed effort toward a state rulemaking" that "is not in the spirit of a collaborative effort to develop a single national program for fuel economy/ghg (greenhouse gas) standards."
Nichols' letter denied the charge.
"For the Alliance to suggest we are no longer committed to a cooperative effort is disingenuous at best, and incorrect," she wrote in a letter to the automaker CEOs, urging them to "distance" themselves from the Washington group.
"The unfortunate statements made by the Alliance undercut our continued cooperation," Nichols wrote.
