Environmental Defense: Groups Join States in Legal Effort to Reduce Global Warming Pollution from Autos

January 3, 2008 – Vol. 12 No.41

Environmental Defense: Environmental Groups Join States in Legal Effort to Reduce Global Warming Pollution from Autos.

Five nonprofit groups have filed a lawsuit challenging the decision by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to deny California its request to implement its landmark law limiting greenhouse gases from new automobiles. The petitioners - the Conservation Law Foundation, Environmental Defense, International Center for Technology Assessment, Natural Resources Defense Counsel (NRDC) and the Sierra Club - filed the suit in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco.

The State of California also filed its own legal challenge to EPA’s decision in the same court. It is expected that 15 states will immediately file a motion to intervene in support of California. The California standards are scheduled to take effect in model year 2009 and secure a 30 percent fleet wide reduction by 2016.

The state program would be the first binding program in the nation to strictly limit global warming pollution.

Until now, EPA has consistently granted more than 50 such requests from California over the past 40 years for waivers under the Clean Air Act. The federal law broadly guarantees California’s right to adopt its own motor vehicle emission standards so long as they are more protective than the federal emission standards. There are no federal greenhouse gas emission standards in place for any pollution source.

Collectively, California and the other states account for nearly one-half of the U.S. population and about 45 percent of all new vehicle sales nationwide. Sixteen other states have adopted or have committed to adopt the California standards including: Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont and Washington. (1/2/08)

Links:

Environmental Defense
http://www.environmentaldefense.org

Disclaimer, Forward-Looking or Safe Harbor Statement on original press release: No