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California Sues EPA Over Setting Emission Standards

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By SAMANTHA YOUNG, The Associated Press

Published: January 3, 2008

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - California sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday for denying the state's first-in-the-nation greenhouse gas limits on cars, trucks and sport utility vehicles, challenging the Bush administration's conclusion that states have no business setting emission standards.

Other states are expected to join the lawsuit, which was anticipated after the EPA on Dec. 19 denied California a waiver it needs under the federal Clean Air Act. The lawsuit was filed in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.
EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson denied California the waiver, saying new federal regulations would be more effective than a patchwork of state laws. At least 16 other states had been expected to follow California's lead and adopt the state's tougher emission limits.

"There's absolutely no justification for the administrator's action," Attorney General Jerry Brown said Wednesday. "It's illegal. It's unconscionable and a gross dereliction of duty."

In announcing his decision last month, Johnson said the federal government was moving forward with a national solution and dismissed California's arguments that it faced unique threats from climate change. Energy legislation signed by President Bush will raise fuel economy standards nationwide to an average of 35 miles per gallon by 2020, he said.

In an e-mailed statement, EPA spokesman Jonathan Shradar said the federal Energy Independence and Security Act "is a more beneficial national approach to a national problem, which establishes an aggressive standard for all 50 states - as opposed to a lower standard in California and a patchwork of other states."
California officials contend their 2004 law is tougher than the new national standard. It would have required the auto industry to cut emissions by one-third in new vehicles by 2016 or reach an average of 36.8 mpg, setting a deadline four years earlier than the new federal law.

Over the next eight years, California's standards would reduce carbon dioxide output from vehicles by 17.2 million metric tons, more than double the 7.7 million metric tons that will be achieved with the federal fuel-efficiency standards, according to an analysis released Wednesday by California Air Resources Board Chairwoman Mary Nichols.

Twelve other states - Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington - have adopted the California emissions standards. Also, the governors of Arizona, Colorado, Florida and Utah have said they plan to adopt them. The rules also are under consideration in Iowa.

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