HARRISBURG, PA – Gov. Edward G. Rendell has announced that proposed changes to Pennsylvania's clean vehicles program have been approved by the state attorney general. The rule was published as final in the Dec. 9 edition of the Pennsylvania Bulletin. Pennsylvania’s clean vehicles program locks in model-year 2008 as the compliance date for new emission standards for new passenger cars and light-duty trucks in the commonwealth. The program also requires automakers to make their overall fleet cleaner than would be required by the federal government. Sticker prices of the cleaner vehicles are identical to the “dirtier” versions. The Independent Regulatory Review Commission approved the plan Nov. 2 and the state’s Environmental Quality Board, also an independent regulatory review panel, voted in favor of the plan Sept. 19 after receiving 4,829 responses during the public comment period. Nearly all commentators supported the state program, which at the time was a record number of responses for a rulemaking in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania’s clean vehicles program will cut volatile organic compounds as much as 12 percent and nitrogen oxide emissions nine percent more than the less-stringent federal standards, and result in a 5- to 11-percent greater reduction of six toxic air pollutants, including benzene, a known carcinogen.