WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of the Environmental Protection Agency said on Tuesday she hopes to reopen the public comment period this week on California's request for authority to cut tailpipe emissions.
"I think very soon. ... I'm hoping that it will be in the next few days," EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson told Reuters when asked if notice would be published this week in the Federal Register of regulations.
Jackson spoke to Reuters after visiting the Washington Auto Show.
President Barack Obama last week ordered the EPA to reconsider California's request for a waiver from federal regulations to impose its own strict limits on vehicle carbon dioxide emissions, blamed for contributing to global warming.
The Bush administration had rejected the state's proposal.
Automakers oppose California's plan to cut emissions by 30 percent by 2016 since it would result in a de facto increase in automobile fuel efficiency, which currently is set by the federal government.
The California law was set to take effect for the 2009 model year but political, bureaucratic and ongoing legal hurdles have halted its progress.
Domestic and foreign auto manufacturers are concerned the California law would prompt other states to sign on, creating a "patchwork" of regulations affecting vehicle models differently and making production more expensive.
Manufacturers, two of whom are struggling to survive, prefer a single fuel efficiency regulation approved by Congress and administered by the Transportation Department that is based on vehicle attributes -- not emissions.
The current proposal under consideration by transportation planners seeks to raise average fuel efficiency of the fleet by 40 percent by 2020. The California law would exceed that mandate years sooner.
Dave McCurdy, a senior automaker lobbyist as chief executive of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, pressed the point with Jackson, White House climate and energy czar Carol Browner and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood as the group toured the auto show.
"I think they are committed to finding a national approach here," McCurdy said. "They are going to include all stakeholders in this process."
Speaking earlier at the Auto Show, Margo Oge, director of EPA's Office of Transportation and Air Quality, said the agency would probably take new public comments on the state's plan for 45 or 60 days, which would then be reviewed by the EPA before a final decision was made.
Oge refused to commit to EPA issuing its decision on California's waiver request by the end of the second quarter.
But Mary Nichols, chair of the California Air Resources Board, told reporters later at the show that state officials have not been given a definitive date for a decision.
"We suggested they should be able to reach a decision by June. We think somewhere in that time frame would be doable," Nichols said. "We have had conversations with staff and they have indicated that although that would be pushing, they would try to get to that goal."
Nichols believes automakers can meet the California standard, as does Rep. Edward Markey, chairman of the select Committee on Energy and Climate Change.
(Reporting by Tom Doggett, Ayesha Rascoe and John Crawley; Editing by Christian Wiessner)