Posted on 09/22/2006 10:09:23 AM PDT by blam
California faces uphill battle on car emissions
11:12 22 September 2006
NewScientist.com news service
Roxanne Khamsi
California is unlikely to win its lawsuit against six of the world’s largest car manufacturers, which it filed earlier this week, say legal experts. The state is suing the automakers for the costs it says are associated with the vehicles’ greenhouse gas emissions.
Even with a small chance of success, environmental advocates say the new legal action is useful and necessary because of threats to the state’s existing plans to reduce car emissions.
The government of California has made many headlines by promoting laws to curb greenhouse gas emissions, even as the Bush administration rejects similar steps at national level. In August 2006 the state legislature passed a bill, which Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is expected to sign, that will regulate such emissions produced by general industry.
The lawsuit filed this week by California's attorney general Bill Lockyer targets General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, and subsidiaries of Honda, Toyota and Nissan. Lokyer says the car manufacturers are responsible for 30% of state’s greenhouse gas emissions.
The complaint argues that the state has spent large amounts of money dealing with the impact of car emissions, including “planning, monitoring and infrastructure changes” to address problems such as increased ozone pollution, rising sea levels and an increased threat of wildfires.
Lockyer, who is up for election in early November for the position of state treasurer, has estimated the current damages at “tens of millions of dollars”.
Connecting evidence However, the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers – a Washington DC-based trade group that represents carmakers – denied that the companies are to blame. “Automakers are already building cleaner, more fuel-efficient vehicles, and every single auto sold in California is approved by the State of California before it goes...
(Excerpt) Read more at newscientist.com ...
The car companies should counter sue. IMO
I wonder if the state's attorneys will all ride bikes to the courthouse, somehow I doubt it.
Rising sea levels? ROFL.
Wildfires? Due to smog?
Governments should never win political assults on its legal private companies.
Sadly, like the smoking lawsuits where the lawyers made billions of dollars for their support of politicans, the California AG is providing years of revenue to the lawyers that support the government and his campaign.
Our AG is a lowlife.
ALGORE! Is that you???
The car companies should join the state as a codefendant. After all, Caltans built all those freeways without which there would be much less in the way of CO2 emissions. Better yet, join the Governator as a codefendant. He actually believes all this greenhouse stuff and he still owns and uses comparatively inefficeint cars.
Those companies being sued should IMMEDIATLY stop selling cars in Mexifornia.
For decades the CA. emmisions have been the strictest in the nation. ALL the companies met or exceeded those standards. Now Lockyer wants to say too bad!
That is like seeing the speed limit at 60 mph, you are driving at 59 mph and the cop says "oh well, we just want you to pay".
This suit will never get to trial.
And the other 60% is from all the BS spewed by the envirowacko's.
I think this "lawsuit" is merely a ploy to get the car companies to drop their own lawsuits against new emissions standards.
No, they should simply cease all operations in the state of California as soon as possible.
"environmental advocates say the new legal action is useful and necessary because of threats to the state’s existing plans to reduce car emissions."
Typical liberal crap, their "existing plans" are nothing more than demands placed on the producers. When the state of California gets in the auto business, they can plan to reduce the emissions in the cars they produce.
I think all 6 carmakers should add a "Surcharge for Defense from Goofy California Lawsuits" to the "sticker-price" of each car sold in California.
This might lead some angry California citizens to buy their automobiles in Nevada or Arizona. I could live with that...
what about Porshe,Jaguar,Mercedes,Rolls Royce,Bentley,Lexus,Ferrari,Maserati,Lamborghini,etc.? Plenty of those in California
YOU CAN'T OFFEND THOSE PEOPLE!!! They're limosine liberals!!!
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