Obama directs regulators to tighten auto rules

As reported in this article from the New York Times, on Monday, January 26, 2009, President Obama directed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reconsider California’s request for a waiver to restrict greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks more stringently than the limits specified by Federal laws. The move represented a break with the Bush administration’s environmental policy, which several times disallowed the waiver.  Obama also directed the Transportation Department to write rules to implement a 2007 law mandating a 40% gain in gas mileage for autos an light trucks by 2020.  The 2007 bill had no regulation to enforce it.