Don’t be misled by clean car naysayers. They were looking out for their own personal interests.

Passing the clean cars bill, which had been debated at the State Capitol, would have been good for all Minnesotans. It would have cleaned up our air and eased our pain at the gas pump.

The clean cars bill would have:

Reduced global warming pollution from new passenger vehicles 30 percent by 2016.

Saved Minnesotans $260 million through improved efficiency and fuel savings at the pump.

Removed 13 million metric tons of pollution from our air.

Plus, we will continue to have the freedom to buy the vehicles we want, whether those are trucks, SUVs, minivans or passenger sedans. Vehicles over 8,500 pounds and commercial vehicles were not subject to the legislation. And the standards won’t apply to off-highway vehicles, street rods and other recreational vehicles. The only real change was that the vehicles we drive would have been cleaner for our air and cost us fewer dollars to fill up at the gas pump.

Finally, just because these standards were first developed in California doesn’t mean we were abdicating our ability to “rule ourselves.” We would have maintained our ability for our legislature to opt out of any standard, any time, if for some reason it does not benefit our state. We would have been our own keepers.

And if those weren’t reasons enough to support the clean cars legislation, Minnesotans should also consider what will happen, now that we didn’t adopt these standards. Already 14 states representing more than 40 percent of the country’s population have adopted these standards. Chances are, if we don’t adopt clean car standards, we will become the dumping ground for the not-so-clean cars. I don’t think any of us want that to happen.

And remember that this law would apply to manufacturers, not consumers. The law wouldn’t have affected the cars and trucks we already own. We wouldn’t need to have them tested for emissions, and we wouldn’t have to pay for any upgrades or changes to them.

As car buyers, we would have been able to choose from a full array of cars and trucks that allow us to drive more miles on a gallon of gas. And, as gas prices continue to rise, we should be thankful for our legislators who were pushing for the clean cars measure. They were looking out for all Minnesotans’ wallets — and the future of our state.

Steve Morse

executive director

Minnesota Environmental Partnership

St. Paul