Obama Presses EPA to Consider a Waiver Giving States the Right to Set Their Own Auto Emissions Standards

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson

WASHINGTON, D.C.- President Barack Obama has requested that Lisa Jackson, newly appointed administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, “assess” whether it was “appropriate” for the agency to deny California the ability to set its own emissions standards for new motor vehicles.

The request was made through a direct memorandum from the president to the administrator.

Under current regulations, the Clean Air Act allows the EPA the ability to set emissions standards for motor vehicles on a national basis. The president reminded the agency that “for decades,” the EPA has granted California waivers to such standards.

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Sixth Grader Brings Eco-Friendliness Message to a Harlem’s Alain L. Locke School

Hoffer sits with a fourth grader at Alain L. Locke Elementary School offering origami tips on making recyclable Christmas decorations. Photo provided by Peter Trumley.NEW YORK - Spreading the message of eco-friendliness across elementary schools throughout the United States, 12-year-old Riley Hoffer has come to New York this month to visit the Alain L. Locke Elementary School in Harlem.

Young Riley is the spokesperson for CGKidz, the community outreach arm of stainless-steel water bottle maker CynerGreen, Little Rock, Ark.. The Hoffer family-owned company has devoted itself to spreading the word about conservation and environmentally friendly living.

The event opened with a school assembly for the upper grades in which the student listened to a presentation about how they could be more environmentally friendly.

Riley opened the event discussing the three Rs—Reuse, Reduce and Recycle. “I want to talk to you about attitude, the attitude to think green,” she said, adding, “Most of the things that you use today, like light bulbs, newspapers and cardboard boxes can be recycled.

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