Illinois and other Midwest states are moving to adopt tough new standards to reduce pollution, benefiting the region’s health and reducing global warming pollution-while also improving the area’s economy. Illinois has the opportunity to lead the Midwest in ensuring all new passenger cars and light-duty trucks will emit lower levels of global warming and other air pollutants while improving public health, and saving Illinois consumers money at the pump.

Download ELPC’s new report - Breathing Free in Illinois: Reducing Air Pollution and Improving Health through Cleaner Cars (pdf). The report highlights public health and the environmental benefits of bringing Clean Cars legislation to Illinois.

You can help take the global warming pollution of more than 950,000 cars off the road each year in Illinois!

The new Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFÉ) standards recently passed by Congress and signed by President Bush does not do nearly enough to increase fuel efficiency or significantly reduce global warming pollution from cars.

It’s time for Illinois to demand better.

We have the opportunity to lead the Midwest by joining 14 states in adopting standards requiring auto manufacturers to build cleaner cars. State Representative Karen May and State Senator Terry Link are sponsoring legislation in the Illinois General Assembly to do just that.

How will clean car legislation benefit Illinois? Listen to this interview with Joe Shacter, senior policy advocate at the Environmental Law & Policy Center:

Send a letter

Write to your state elected officials now to support Clean Cars for Illinois.

Sign a petition

Sign a petition to let your elected officials know this is an issue you care about!

The background: Why clean cars are a win for Illinois

• Health: lower air pollutants will mean relief to people with asthma and other respiratory ailments.
• Economy: fuel-efficient vehicles will save 1.2 billion gallons of gas every year. Instead of spending their hard-earned dollars on fuel from other countries, Illinois residents will spend most of these additional funds on goods and services produced right here in Illinois.
• Environment: clean cars will reduce global warming pollution from new cars by an average of 22% by 2012 and by average of 30% by 2020
• National security: We all want to lessen our dependence on foreign oil. The Clean Car Act provides incentives for domestic automakers to make more fuel-efficient vehicles.

The Clean Car standards reduce other air pollutants that the CAFÉ program doesn’t even cover, such as carbon monoxide and several air toxics that cause cancer. The resulting improvement in public health—particularly for those affected by respiratory disease, is significant. Tens of thousands fewer lost school days each year, around 100,000 fewer respiratory symptoms annually, and on and on.

It’s time to bring Clean Cars to Illinois. Send the letter to your state representative and state senator today. Make sure to tell them to support Rep. May’s and Senator Link’s bill so we can start driving the cleanest cars possible here in Illinois!

Midwest states working on regional greenhouse gas plan

Governors of 12 Midwestern states met to discuss regional and complementary policies to tackle global warming at the Midwestern Governor’s Association Energy Summit. Six Midwestern governors and the premier of Manitoba pledged to work together to slash emissions linked to global warming at the Midwestern Governor’s Association Energy Summit. The biggest news at the summit was a Midwest agreement to a regional cap-and-trade policy to limit greenhouse gas pollution. The Midwest alone is responsible for more global warming pollution than any country other than China, India, Japan and the former Soviet Union so the effect of this agreement is huge. The Midwest now joins the ranks of both the Northeast and the West to enact a cap-and-trade system.

Around the nation: governors petition automakers to drop lawsuits

Governors of 13 states have signed letters to automakers asking them to drop their lawsuits against state clean cars laws and work together to address global warming.

Meanwhile, a study quantifies the benefits of tailpipe standards already in place in other states. The U.S. Public Interest Research Group report indicates the standards would reduce global warming emissions by nearly 400 million metric tons by 2020 - a reduction equivalent to taking 74 million of today’s cars off the road for an entire year.