Last week, the Environmental Protection Agency's administrator, Stephen Johnson, denied California's request to set lower vehicle CO2 emissions standards than are mandated by the federal government. California wanted to significantly reduce CO2 emissions by lowering vehicle emissions by 30 percent by the year 2016. CO2 is the greenhouse gas released when a fossil fuel such as gasoline is burned and is the main contributor to global warming.

The lower emissions standards proposed by California would have motivated car companies to get busy and start offering more efficient, (less polluting) vehicles sooner rather than later. Johnson's denial is odd because the EPA had granted all 50 previous waiver requests over the last 40 years. Granting these previous waivers has enabled California to become the established leader in combating air pollution.

Johnson had been sitting on California's request for two years. During that time, 12 states lined up behind the lower California CO2 emission standards, ready to adopt them. Four other governors, including Utah's Gov. Jon Huntsman, said they also planned to adopt the lower emission standards.

I find it hard to believe that an agency leader responsible for protecting our environment would block so many states from taking strong action to reduce automobile emissions, air pollution and global warming. The California auto emission reduction law is more ambitious than the mile-per-gallon targets recently signed into law by President Bush as part of the energy bill.

Why not be more ambitious when it comes to cleaning up our air and combating global warming? We've all seen the smog thicken in the valley as the day turns from morning to afternoon as traffic volume builds on the interstates and secondary roads. Many of us have been held hostage when an inversion moves in and starts trapping poisons from auto tailpipes and coal-fired power plants for us to breathe. More people die when the air is bad. The health-care community sees a sharp increase in severe respiratory ailments.

The consequences of air pollution are something that we should not have to live with or die from. I fear that we can't even imagine the consequences of out-of-control global warming.

EPA administrator Johnson must know that the United States is dead last in the developed world when it comes to fuel economy. At about 25 miles per gallon (today's current U.S. average), we are 4 mpg behind Canada. We are 10 mpg behind China. We are 17 mpg behind Japan. We are 18 mpg behind Europe. Johnson must also know that per person, the United States emits more CO2 than any other country.

Are our automobile companies that inept? I think not. I suspect that they have had too much influence over our political process for too long. I believe our leaders have not had the political will to make the tough decisions when it comes to air pollution and global warming.

It's hard to make tough decisions when it comes to remedies for air pollution. It's also hard to accept that more than 2,000 Utahns die every year because of the polluted air that we breathe. The toxic emissions from the cars we drive are contributing to those deaths. Give kudos to Gov. Huntsman for supporting California's lower auto emission standards. Let EPA administrator Johnson know that you support California's lower CO2 auto emissions standards and cleaner air for all Americans to breathe.

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Jim French is a bike commuter, hybrid car driver and resident of Salt Lake City.