Federal Fuel Standards Tossed for Ignoring Global Warming

Bravo to the Judiciary branch for doing what the other two can’t or won’t do!

Since the U.S. government announced new fuel efficiency standards in March of 2006, environmentalists and 11 states have argued that the standards do not go far enough to combat the harmful emissions that lead to global warming.

Today, the Ninth Court of Appeals gave a victory to environmentalists and a “rebuke” to the Bush administration in ruling that regulators “failed to properly assess the risk of global warming” in part at least for exempting larger SUVs and trucks.

The court decision is a rebuke to the Bush administration and its refusal to make meaningful steps to reduce global warming pollution from our automobiles,” said Pat Gallagher, director of environmental law at Sierra Club. “The decision tells the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that it can’t monkey the numbers when it sets fuel economy standards by ignoring the cost of carbon emissions.”

The court’s action invalidates the March 2006 fuel standards for minivans, light trucks and smaller SUV’s.

While there’s still a long way to go, this was the third in a small string of court victories in 2007 against the administration and in favor of environmentalists and states seeking to reduce global warming:

• In September, a federal court in Vermont awarded a major victory to states seeking to regulate auto emissions that produce dangerous greenhouse gases. The Bush administration had argued that the state laws on fuel economy should be preempted by federal rules.
• In April, the Supreme Court rejected an argument by the Bush administration that the Environment Protection Agency has no jurisdiction to regulate emissions. “The high court rejected that view…ruling 5-4 that the emissions were air pollutants and that the EPA must regulate them unless it comes up with scientific justifications for continued inaction.

Last week Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Democratic Attorney General Jerry Brown of California filed suit against the Bush Administration “demanding that the federal government act on a request filed nearly two years ago to let the state limit motor emissions of greenhouse gases.”

I’m heartened that the judicial branch continues to provide these victories against the administration; victories that help to fight global warming.

It would be even more encouraging if Congress and the Bush administration got together on serious legislation that attacked the problem. That would be a much quicker route than forcing conscientious citizens and state governments to sue the federal government in court, for not doing its job in the first place.