Europe's New Anti-Exhaust Law

[Kellanved]

Pollution in European cities is rampant. But if the European Union has its way, that will soon change. As of Jan. 1, all cities will have to comply with new clean air laws. Downtown tolls and street closures may result. Expensive lawsuits are also in the works.

The faces of the traffic experts attending the ADAC (German Automobile Association) industry conference became visibly longer with each sentence uttered by the speaker. German traffic taboos, after all, were being broken -- the freedom of German roads was under attack. The future, he was saying, could include the following: the closure of more city streets to traffic; the widening of the snail-paced 30 km/h (18 mph) zones within metropolitan areas; even the imposing of temporary driving bans. The timing of the meeting was appropriate: Friday, Nov. 13.
...
All of this may seem rather abstract at first glance. But it is likely to have serious consequences for automobile traffic, especially in major cities. To satisfy the new EU guideline's requirements, traffic planners will likely have to periodically close off streets or even entire sections of cities, ban diesel-powered vehicles from cities altogether or even impose a city toll. Some of these new measures could begin taking effect in the near future. They're the only way most European metropolitan areas will be able to comply with the mandatory limits. It's a scenario that is as applicable to Milan, Paris and Madrid as it is to German cities like Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt and Hamburg.

And it won't just affect drivers, either. The new regulations give city residents living near heavily traveled city streets the right to sue their municipality if the air they breathe isn't clean enough. Cities across Europe could face huge, expensive class-action lawsuits in the very near future.
...
http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,331539,00.html

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Don't be surprised if the U.S. doesn't sue the E.U. on this law, claiming

that it unfairly impinges on the ability to market American-manufactured motor vehicles with their known toxic emissions. Detroit doesn't let environmental laws slow it down in this country. Europe won't get a free pass if corporations have their way.

[Massacure]

2. Perhaps they should *gasp* force power plants to clean up as well.

The EU is limiting air pollution. They didn't say HOW it had to be done.

[Kellanved]

3. powerplants are heavily regulated already

At least when compared to their US counterparts. And while the EU does not say how, it does say where.

[One_Life_To_Give]

4. Sprawl Promoting?

If this was passed in the U.S. I would expect a consequence to be increased sprawl. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in Europe.