They keep it up, you guys will be driving mopeds with car bodies.
Judge Backs California Rules on Greenhouse Gases
By JOHN M. BRODER
The New York Times
December 12, 2007
WASHINGTON — A federal judge in Sacramento on Wednesday upheld a California law regulating greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks, another in a string of legal defeats for the auto industry this year.
The ruling, by Federal District Judge Anthony W. Ishii, affirms a 2002 California law that would effectively force automakers to raise the average fuel economy of their fleets by about 30 percent by 2016. A bill now pending in Congress demands a 40 percent mileage increase by 2020.
The auto companies challenged the California law, which 15 other states say they intend to adopt, saying that it is technically and financially impossible to meet. They also argued that regulation of vehicle mileage is the responsibility of the federal government, not the states.
“We can all agree that higher fuel economy is important, but the issue here was about federal fuel economy law,” said Dave McCurdy, president of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers. “Under federal law, only the federal government can set fuel economy standards for all 50 states.”
Mr. McCurdy noted that the industry had agreed to the new Congressional mandate to achieve a 35-mile per gallon fleetwide average by 2020.
But Judge Ishii said that California was entitled to set its own, stricter standards under the Clean Air Act, provided the federal Environmental Protection Agency grants California a waiver from federal law, which it has done dozens of times over the past 35 years. California applied to the Bush administration for such a waiver in December 2005. The White House has said that it intends to issue its decision by the end of this month.
While Republican and Democratic administration have routinely granted California waivers on pollution programs, this one is more controversial because the auto companies and other industries are lobbying heavily against it, claiming it will cost them too much to comply. The White House has not tipped its hand on how it intends to act on California’s application.
The judge also rejected the automakers’ claim that the California law usurps the federal government’s right to conduct foreign policy, because climate change is a global problem. He said there was no legal precedent for the claim.
Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. of California called the ruling “a major victory for California.”
“This is the fourth defeat for the Bush administration and the auto companies, and I hope it sends a powerful message to the White House and to Congress that California’s role as an innovator should be appreciated and not negated, Mr. Brown.”
He was referring to an April United States Supreme Court decision affirming the E.P.A.’s authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles, as well as a federal court ruling from Vermont in May upholding California’s law and a federal appeals court ruling in November chastising the Department of Transportation for failing to enforce its own vehicle mileage rules.
In 2002, California adopted the first state law requiring auto manufacturers to begin reducing emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases. In 2004, it issued regulations for achieving the emission reductions. Vermont adopted the same standards, as did other states, including Connecticut, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.
Fran Pavley, a former member of the California state Assembly who wrote the emissions bill, said on Wednesday that Judge Ishii’s ruling represented a legal tipping point, leaving the auto manufacturers and the Bush administration isolated on the regulation of gases that scientists say contribute to global warming.
“What we’re finding is that this is a bipartisan issue,” Ms. Pavley. “The states have moved on and they are working together to be responsible in doing their fair share to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.” |
