EPA ordered to reconsider states’ request for tougher standards

President Barack Obama on Monday ordered federal environmental regulators to reconsider a request by 14 states to set strict vehicle emission and fuel efficiency standards.

Georgia is not one of the states that asked for a waiver from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to enforce tougher tailpipe standards than the federal government.

California led the 14-state coalition made up of these states: Arizona, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.

Colorado, Florida, Iowa and Utah are in the process of adopting California’s stricter emission standards, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council.

According to the California Air Resources Board, the tougher rules will reduce greenhouse gas emissions from passenger vehicles 30 percent by 2016.

The EPA denied California’s waiver request last March, the first time the federal agency had denied such a request to toughen emission standards. California and several other states sued.