California and 15 other Northeastern states have sued the Bush administration seeking to overturn a EPA's decision in Dec to reject the state's bid to reduce greenhouse gases from cars and trucks. Gov Arnold Schwarzenegger, California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown and five national environmental groups filed in the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. Under the federal Clean Air Act, California is allowed to enact stricter air pollution laws than the federal government as long as the state is given a waiver from the EPA.
The controversy appears to be mostly political in our opinion because the 2007 energy bill did for the nation what the California law was trying to achieve through vehicles. The new law raises the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards to 35 mpg by 2020, whereas the California law would have required about 34 mpg by 2012. AEAA supports EPA's action.
The 15 states joining California in the lawsuit are Massachusetts, Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington. (The L.A. Times)
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