For as long as I can remember, it used to be that the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers and the EPA were at each other’s throats. They just never seemed to get along that well, and with good reason. Cars pollute, and the EPA’s job is to regulate and control pollution. Yin and Yang and all that.
But in a strange twist, the Auto Alliance is urging Congress not to block the EPA from setting limits on tailpipe emissions and declaring greenhouse gases a public health hazard. In fact, the Alliance has even been closely helping EPA and NHTSA to craft the bill over the last year. Even weirder is having the California Air Resource Board (CARB) on the same side as the EPA and the Alliance. Have we entered a new era of corporate cooperation? Or are the automakers just trying to salvage a deal between CARB and the White House?