美国国家公共电台 NPR--The impact of California's environmental regulations ripples across the U.S.

The impact of California's environmental regulations ripples¹ across the U.S.

Transcript²

California is home to some of the country's strictest environmental regulations. Those standards can sometimes spread to other states and beyond. It's known as the "California Effect."

A MARTINEZ, HOST:

Now that California has banned the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035, other states may follow and adopt those stricter standards. It's actually happened plenty before. Adrian Ma and Darian Woods from our daily economics podcast The Indicator³ explain the California effect.

ADRIAN MA, BYLINE⁴: So the California effect is this idea that when the Golden State adopts strict regulations, those standards often end up spreading to other jurisdictions⁵. It was a term coined by David Vogel, who's now a retired⁶ professor at the University of California, Berkeley. And David says you can especially see this effect with environmental standards.

DAVID VOGEL: Regulating appliances so they use less energy, extensive labeling of hazardous⁷ materials in California, building codes which attempt to make buildings more energy-efficient.

DARIAN WOODS, BYLINE: David says that the prime example of the California effect is the state's regulation of car emissions⁹. So think back to the 1970s, and air pollution in Los Angeles was really, really bad. And when Congress was passing the Clean Air Act, California wanted a special carve-out to pass emission⁸ standards that were even stricter than what the federal government would require of other states. And Congress said, OK.

MA: And then California turned around and said to carmakers, you want to sell here, you got to sell cleaner cars. And the carmakers said, fine. So how did this one state bend these multinational¹⁰ corporations to its regulatory will? Well, there are a couple of reasons - economic, of course. First, California is what economists¹¹ call ginormous. With a population of 39 million, it is by far the biggest state.

WOODS: And check out California's spending power. In 2020, roughly 1 out of every 8 consumer dollars in the U.S. was spent by a Californian.

VOGEL: It's such a large market so that anything which California acquires for its own product sold in its state is going to resonate among national and global companies. If you don't want to have to make separate products for California and the rest of the country, you might as well just make them according to California's standards.

WOODS: And this business logic¹² of regulations can even extend overseas. So, for example, David says that in the 1970s, the European Commission was debating how to regulate auto¹³ emissions. And German carmakers raised their hands and were like, we want stricter regulation.

WOODS: Why? - because a major portion of the market for German cars is in California, and the German manufacturers realized that they needed to meet California's standards to retain their impact on the American market. And they pressured the European Union to adopt environmental standards which were as close as possible to those of California.

MA: Now, it's important to say, a lot of people do not see California's power to move markets as a good thing. Earlier this year, attorneys general from 17 states actually complained to the Environmental Protection Agency, saying that California, with its special emissions carve-out - it has too much power. And Missouri's AG actually called California's rules oppressive.

WOODS: In any case, none of this is stopping California lawmakers from promulgating¹⁴ away. Last week, lawmakers passed a whole raft of climate legislation, from new restrictions¹⁵ on oil and gas drilling to an ambitious goal of achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2045.

Darian Woods.

MA: Adrian Ma, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF MOKHOV'S "SOLACE REFLECT")

1 ripples   

逐渐扩散的感觉( ripple的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The moon danced on the ripples. 月亮在涟漪上舞动。
• The sea leaves ripples on the sand. 海水在沙滩上留下了波痕。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 indicator   

n.指标；指示物，指示者；指示器

参考例句：

• Gold prices are often seen as an indicator of inflation.黃金价格常常被看作是通货膨胀的指标。
• His left-hand indicator is flashing.他左手边的转向灯正在闪亮。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 jurisdictions   

司法权( jurisdiction的名词复数 )； 裁判权； 管辖区域； 管辖范围

参考例句：

• Butler entreated him to remember the act abolishing the heritable jurisdictions. 巴特勒提醒他注意废除世袭审判权的国会法令。
• James I personally adjudicated between the two jurisdictions. 詹姆士一世亲自裁定双方纠纷。

6 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

7 hazardous   

adj.(有)危险的，冒险的；碰运气的

参考例句：

• These conditions are very hazardous for shipping.这些情况对航海非常不利。
• Everybody said that it was a hazardous investment.大家都说那是一次危险的投资。

8 emission   

n.发出物，散发物；发出，散发

参考例句：

• Rigorous measures will be taken to reduce the total pollutant emission.采取严格有力措施，降低污染物排放总量。
• Finally,the way to effectively control particulate emission is pointed out.最后，指出有效降低颗粒排放的方向。

9 emissions   

排放物( emission的名词复数 )； 散发物（尤指气体）

参考例句：

• Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
• Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。

10 multinational   

adj.多国的，多种国籍的；n.多国籍公司，跨国公司

参考例句：

• The firm was taken over by a multinational consulting firm.这家公司被一个跨国咨询公司收购。
• He analyzed the relationship between multinational corporations and under-developed countries.他分析了跨国公司和不发达国家之间的关系。

11 economists   

n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 logic   

n.逻辑(学)；逻辑性

参考例句：

• What sort of logic is that?这是什么逻辑？
• I don't follow the logic of your argument.我不明白你的论点逻辑性何在。

13 auto   

n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车

参考例句：

• Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
• The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。

14 promulgating   

v.宣扬（某事物）( promulgate的现在分词 )；传播；公布；颁布（法令、新法律等）

参考例句：

• While they promulgating the Christianity, English was also publicized in China. 他们在传教的同时，英语也在中国得到了广泛的传播。 来自互联网
• It is a philosophy of life, promulgating numerous and complicated existence. “生活艺术论”是林语堂文化观、人生观和审美观的集中体现。 来自互联网

15 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制