It's the abundance of valleys. Half of california is valleys, and the other half is different valleys.River wrote:It doesn't help that parts of CA have some sort of weird climate thing that just makes the area more susceptible to smog. Add in the cars and highways and the demand for tighter controls becomes understandable. Thing is, if manufacturers are to sell cars, don't the CA standards just become the de facto national standards (not that this is a bad thing)?
A big city in Kansas (I know, bear with me and assume it's possible) is surrounded by plains and prarie, and thus the smog can dissipate.
San Gabriel Valley or San Fernando Valley, both highly urban suburbs of Los Angeles, have lots of nice mountains trapping the smog.
But California standards aren't de facto national standards. A California standard car would have a hard time operating in, say, Minnesota or Michigan due to the extremely colder climate. They need different engineering there so the engine won't freeze.
Overall I support defederalization of emissions standards, but dislike what California is doing with their defederalization.