> they must push that date out because many states cannot afford to comply in this economy

That's not the only reason. Montana flat-out refused to comply; eventually, the federal government granted an "extensions" that Montana didn't want or care to have. Several other states followed Montana's example, and got the same treatment.

To quote Montana's Governor Brian Schweitzer in an NPR interview a couple years back, he said that when the federal government starts trying to push you around, "Sometimes, you've just got to tell 'em to go to hell."

I'm pretty sure I got the quote exactly right. I might have paraphrased by a word or two, but "tell 'em to go to hell" is definitely a verbatim quote.