I don't know where it originated, but as they saying goes, "Will it play in Poughkeepsie?"
...or Sacramento more likely, since California is the state that always "leads" us in issues about the environment.
It's comical, I'm in Sacramento looking at electric generation off anaerobic digesters (methane from manure) on central valley dairies, and it's a regulatory circus. Air commission, water commission, state epa, federal epa, usda nrcs, etc... The air commission mandates that if you throw a rod on a big generator engine, then the replacement engine (or just block) has to meet the latest emission control practice...and they just used that engine's performance to update their own requirements!
Meanwhile, we're all burning more fuel to reduce emissions from newer engines...but when you multiply MORE gallons burnt by the LESS emissions concentrations .... you get.... just as much, or more, total environmental load. At higher cost, which is the point to reduce demand, I guess. (Naw they're not that clever, are they?)