Judge Rejects Automakers' Emissions Suit

Rules California Can Regulate Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Vehicles

(AP)  Handing a major defeat to the auto industry, a federal judge ruled Wednesday that California can regulate greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles.

The ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Anthony Ishii clears one of the hurdles in California's effort to regulate tailpipe emissions from cars, trucks and sports utility vehicles.

Automakers sued the state over the tailpipe standards it approved in 2004, which would force automakers to build cars and light trucks that produce about 30 percent fewer greenhouse gases by 2016.

However, the state still needs a waiver from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to begin implementing the program. The EPA has not yet issued a decision. California and 14 other states sued the agency in November seeking quicker action.

"It's a major victory and a giant step forward for California," California Attorney General Jerry Brown said of Wednesday's ruling. "I hope this will get the attention of President Bush and have him support significant caps on greenhouse gas emissions."

In its lawsuit against the state, the auto industry argued that it was the federal government's responsibility to establish one uniform fuel economy standard. Without one, manufacturers would be forced to produce vehicles using too many different efficiency standards.

They argued that a federal energy law passed in 1975 gives the U.S. Department of Transportation sole jurisdiction over fuel economy.

But Ishii rejected that claim, saying Congress gave California and the EPA the authority to regulate vehicle emissions, even if those rules are more strict than those imposed by the federal government.

"While we have not yet had an opportunity to analyze the California federal court's decision, we are obviously very disappointed by this result," said Michael Stanton, president and CEO of the Association of International Automobile Manufacturers.

Under the Clean Air Act, California is the only state that can set its own vehicle pollution standards, because it started regulating air pollution before the U.S. EPA was created. Other states are free to choose either the California rules or the federal government's.

The state's tailpipe emissions are key to California's goal of lowering greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. About a third of the state's emissions come from cars, pickups and sport utility vehicles, a figure that will only grow if they are not regulated in the nation's most populous state.

[ivandrago]

Isn''t it great that you can''t go back and edit typos out of posting? That sux balls.

[ivandrago]

Personally you skeptics are not putting things into perspective. We are living an unsustainable lifestyle with our trucks (yes I own one), and SUVs. California is just forcing this administrations hand to get the ball rolling on what must be done. Vehicles with less emissions are bound to get better mileage. I sick for the stink and the price of gas. If you don''t like it you can suck a tail pipe.

That''s the thing about hillbillies... they are very short sighted. I want it now I don''t care about later mentality.

[cyberus-2009]

Its easy for people like Gov Arnold and the rest to push these sort of things, they all have enough money to own "businesses" and have "business vehicles" that are exempt from the regulations that the rest of the state has to follow, you know, vehicles like Hummers, Caddy Escalades and the like.
Eventually they''ll have the state they want, where only the "beautiful (rich) people" can afford to drive. Not much different than the people that move into the mountains, build huge homes, then lobby to prevent people (other people that is) from moving into the mountains.

[ndg1979]

What strikes me is that this whole thing is unnecessary. We could be driving around 100% electric vehicles that get the same or better mileage than the cars we drive today - and we could be doing it RIGHT NOW! It started when General Motors created the EV-1, the first mass production electric vehicle since the early years of the 20th century. Strangely, it was GM itself, backed by the auto and oil industry and the government, who pushed the California Air Resources Board to state that the car was not viable.

If that car had made it to production, the internal combustion engine cars that are driven WORLDWIDE would no longer be viable and emissions would not be a concern. Shameful that the "Greatest Country on Earth" cannot lead the way to a better future for ourselves and our planet.

[wheeler451]

Those whining bushite conservatives. They whine about taxes and then whine about having smog, and they whine about pollution and not having enough police and they whine about their roads and they whine about healthcare and when they are asked how the US is supposed to pay for all the benefits the conservative whiners demand, they say print more money, then they whine about "government schools" because they have to pay taxes to support our public school system. I have finally figured out why these neoconservative whiners don''t like anything public. They want to keep all their money and have someone else pay for the things they take for granted. In other words, they are greedy people who would rather see the middle class and poor people pay all the taxes while they reap all the benefits. They forget that what made this country great and gives us one of the great educational system in the World is the public school system, which gives us the ability to make 40mpg autos so we won''t pollute the air and water. Go figure. I would rather pay a little more to give my kids a better quality of life.

[brianbwb-2009]

All you government haters please come and fill my tank up with gasoline!!! Posted by vetsence

Sure, but first, convince me why you deserve it...

The automakers habit of holding the economic knife to the necks of first the workers (until they laid them all off), then the consumers (going to cost you more) has gotten to the point where the threatened effect is now negligible, we have endured most of the worst they had to offer.

Because they replaced good business sense (make a better product, and take care of the workers who produce them) with plots and schemes (threaten to fire everybody, of higher prices), they are goint the way of the American TV manufacturers (extinct).

In the medium and long term, they won''t be missed. Maybe some people with sense will start up replacement automakers, go back to good business sense, and be successful. we can only hope.

[vetsence]

All you government haters please come and fill my tank up with gasoline!!! At least you won''t be giving anything to the government. And I could sure enjoy seeing Exxon rape your back pockets. You deserve it.

[migtex]

california folks now get to pay more for auto''s, electricity, energy tax, & all kind of taxes so gov''t can control you. think about it!

[migtex]

Poor Crazy California. Absolutely nuts. NANNY STATE LIKE NY.. PEOPLE MOVING OUT IN DROVES.. TAX TAX TO CONTROL YOU.

[migtex]

Good old socialist California. Home of the nutcases. People who have limited belief systems seem always to go to extremes to have a "pretend" cause. People are moving out in droves like NY. nammy states.

[rickstas]

Sanity prevails -- great news story!