Posted on 09/15/2006 6:12:43 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
California should be permitted to enact the world's toughest vehicle-emission standards as part of its effort to combat global warming, a state attorney told a federal judge Friday.
"Congress wanted California to be an innovator," California Deputy Attorney General Mark Melnick argued in U.S. District Court in defense of regulations seeking to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles.
At issue are tailpipe emission standards for greenhouse gases approved in 2004 by the California Air Resources Board. The rules are designed to cut polluting exhaust from cars and light trucks by 25 percent and from sport utility vehicles by 18 percent.
A coalition of automakers is challenging the rules as a de-facto mandate on fuel-economy standards, which can be set only by the federal government.
"The so-called carbon dioxide, greenhouse gas emissions standards, or whatever label California puts on its standards, are in fact fuel-economy standards," said Andrew Clubok, an attorney representing the lawsuit's main plaintiff, Central Valley Chrysler-Jeep Inc. "The only way to reduce carbon dioxide is to increase fuel economy."
Some European countries and Japan already have higher fuel-efficiency standards than the United States. But automakers say those stricter benchmarks can be met because drivers in those countries have smaller cars with manual transmissions, both of which use less gas.
They said the technology does not yet exist or cannot be applied practically to the larger vehicles generally used in the U.S.
In addition, Clubok argued that the California regulation would "massively" increase the cost of vehicles, eliminate some types of trucks used by farmers, lead to more highway fatalities and cause more air pollution. He said drivers of fuel-efficient cars often drive more, spewing other non-regulated pollutants into the air.
A decision in the case could have national implications. Ten other states have adopted the stricter California standard, which caps greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles beginning in 2009.
The state attorney general's office has urged U.S. District Court Judge Anthony Ishii to rule immediately, while automakers want to proceed to a trial that is scheduled to start Jan. 30. Ishii took more than two hours of arguments Friday and said he would take the state's motion under submission.
California's attempt to limit tailpipe emissions is a key component of a broader state effort to reduce its emissions of gases that contribute to global warming. The state wants to cut the amount of such gases to 1990 levels by 2020.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is expected to sign a bill later this month that would take another key step toward that goal. That legislation would force factories, power plants and refineries to cut their emissions of greenhouse gases, a move opposed by many business groups.
The projected reduction in vehicle emissions accounts for about one third of the state's strategy, said Linda Adams, secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency. If the court rejects the state's tailpipe emissions, the factory regulations might need to be delayed by the governor, she said during negotiations last month on the bill.
California has special authority under the Clean Air Act to set its own vehicle pollution standards because it began regulating air pollution before the federal government did. It must get a waiver from the Environmental Protection Agency before setting new requirements and has an application pending with the agency.
Other states can adopt either the federal standards or California's rules. Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington have adopted the California emission requirements that are now being challenged.
During Friday's hearing, attorneys for the state countered the arguments by automakers linking tailpipe emissions with fuel standards.
They said California's rules simply restrict greenhouse gas emissions, a goal that can be achieved through new technology or the use of alternative fuels.
Attorneys for Chrysler-Jeep and the Association of International Automobile Manufacturers argued that California is prohibited from enacting its emission standards under the federal Energy Policy and Conservation Act.
That 1975 law gives the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration the exclusive ability to set national gas mileage rules. The automakers contend California is trying to do that on its own through the regulations on tailpipe emissions.
In March, the agency concluded that new national gas mileage rules for light trucks would pre-empt any state emissions standards under the Energy Act, dealing a blow to the state's defense.
The manufacturer's association represents the world's largest car companies: BMW Group, DaimlerChrysler AG, Ford Motor Co., General Motors Corp., Honda, Hyundai, Mitsubishi Motors, Mazda, Nissan, Porsche, Volkswagen and Toyota Motor Co.
Melnick, the deputy attorney general, dismissed the automakers' interpretation of the Energy Act. He said it requires the agency to take into account "other motor vehicle standards" - such as California's - when making regulations that apply nationwide.
"What one must consider, one can't pre-empt," Melnick said.
In addition to the fuel economy issue, automakers have challenged California's authority to set greenhouse gas rules on its own. They say such action violates laws related to competition, interstate commerce and foreign policy.
The auto regulations stem from legislation authored by Assemblywoman Fran Pavley, D-Agoura Hills, and signed into law by former Gov. Gray Davis in 2002. The air board spent two years devising the regulations.
The auto industry sued in December 2004, three months after the board adopted the standards. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has supported the law.
We need to figure out a way to keep what happens in Calif in Calif.
Maybe the next earthquake might take care of that.
I just was talking about it breaking off, and becoming a nation unto itself. Just joking. I wasn't wishing harm on anybody.
L
Please remember that FR headquarters are in CA, as well as the Reagan library and other conservative hallmarks.
Just stop selling cars in CA. That will get the idiots to stop really, really fast.
No new cars for the government, no new cars for the police, no new cars for *anyone* in the state of CA. Let them go out of state to buy them. Oh, wait, CA taxes people who do that anyway. Well, people might just move out then.
They should ban automatics (except dsg). Especially for politicians
I would stop selling large cars and SUV in CA. Let them buy only low priced compact cars. Since CA gets sales taxes for cars, smaller and lower priced cars would impact their state tax revenues. Furthermore, I would stop selling and servicing large cars and SUV to CA government entities such as fire, police, emergency and agencies. When criminals outrun them and out impact them in car chases, CA will learn the value of large cars and SUV's. Since Ford and GM need to make personnel cuts in their corporate structure, start with dealers and factories in CA first.
No, stop selling *all* cars. That will bring them to their knees in months and teach them not to screw around like that.
It might also lead CA to dump the Dems.
Pretty soon someone will want to start rationing "miles per resident." Then they can create a mileage trading scam, where you can buy extra miles from those who don't drive as much. Of course, if they include all the private jets of the elitists, this would never fly--so to speak.
Will the mileage tax rear its ugly head again, too?
mileage tax? the technology exists to do so,, and it doesn't seem to matter of late if it is a D or an R in the Gub's office these days as to what will be tried or peddled as long as its for the "common good".
Yeah... one of Arnie's liberal enviro-wacko appointees was a big proponent of the mileage tax.
I forget the name.
This was the name
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=borucki
Marc graduated from Tufts in 1984 and Boalt in 1993. He was an articles editor of the Ecology Law Quarterly (ELQ) as a 3L. He received ELQ's highest honor, the Ellis J. Harmon Prize, for “Watching the Candy Store: EPA Overfiling of Local Air Pollution Variances.” His article examined the practical realities of overlapping federal and local Clean Air Act enforcement.
MARC N. MELNICK
State Bar No. 168187
Deputy Attorney General
1515 Clay Street, 20th Floor
P.O. Box 70550
Oakland, CA 94612-0550
Telephone: (510) 622-2133
Fax: (510) 622-2270
Having spent my childhood in the LA area I can say that the air quaility has greatly improved. I used to get sinus headaches and burning eyes when I would go to the city after spending the school year in the desert. I don't get that anymore when I go to visit family. That says alot for their policies. There are more cars on the road and the air quality is better. Automotive companies are a bunch of whiney little babies that want to get away with as little work as possible. All of this just pushes them into providing us with a better product.
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