Carpocalypse - the environmental commentary

So, as has been reported on all the major news sources (Autoblog, Jalopnik, etc.) and the drive-by media (AP, et al), President Obama has agreed that the states can potentially set their own emissions standards. Now, as a car enthusiast, anything that may result in a limitation on the enjoyment I can get out of a car is not something I am in favor of. Also, I am skeptical of the whole "global warming" concept and the contribution that automobiles make to greenhouse gases, as opposed to naturally occurring GHGs like from volcanoes, geothermal pockets, coal-fired power plants, etc. That being said, there's enough momentum behind the global warming movement that it is unlikely that it can be stopped easily. So I say so be it. Go ahead and let California establish its own standards. But once California has determined and applied its caps, thresholds, assessment criteria, etc., apply them across the nation. The same thing for different "blends" of gasoline. Here in So Cal, we have winter gas and summer gas, all to deal with the different potential for smog and such based on temperature inversions and the like. One unfortunate side effect is that we have artificial price spikes when they shut down the refineries to switch over the processing from Winter to Summer and back. I'm sure that one single set of emissions standards and fuel blends can be created that will address the issue of greenhouse gases uniformly, across the country. The economy, the domestic automakers in particular, are hurting. It doesn't help both the engineering and the desirability of the domestic fleets to saddle them with a bunch of environmental restrictions. So make it easier to comply with by eliminating their need to create several versions of the same vehicles, just for different regions of the country. If the automakers know that they only need to put their resources into one version of the powertrain for their new models, they're probably going to be much more willing to comply with the standards.