The Nation - News from Aug. 10, 1989

In a move certain to put pressure on the Bush Administration and Congress, eight Northeastern states have agreed to adopt automobile emission standards as stringent as those in California and far tougher than the current federal standards, the Washington Post reported. The governors of New Jersey, Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and New York will join in the announcement today by the Northeastern States for Coordinated Air Use Management of the tougher standards, effective in 1993. Under the federal Clean Air Act, states cannot preempt federal emission standards unless they adopt those in effect in California, which was granted an exception under the 1970 law.