The new regulations are to be completed by 2005 and would not take effect until January 1, 2006. Automakers are given until 2009 to find technologies to comply with the new standards. California is the first state to regulate vehicle emissions of greenhouse gases. The bill passed by a narrow margin of 41 to 30.

The car industry calls the bill a "driving tax." They claim it is an attempt to put a wedge between the driver and his SUV.

Sales of SUVs now account for 47 percent of passenger vehicles in sold in California. That percentage has tripled over the last 30 years. One question is, will Californians still have a choice of what vehicles they can buy in seven years?

Another question is, how much does my car or truck or SUV add to the total pollution? The Department of Energy publishes a list of vehicles by category on its web site. The DOE has information listed on vehicles from 1998 to 2002. The data is a calculation of total tons of pollutants for all cars sold in the U.S. The information is located at http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/noframes/byEPAclassNF.shtml. There are also links on the site to additional areas with very good information about gasoline usage.