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California sues EPA over car emissions limits |
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California has sued the U.S. government for an unreasonable delay in deciding on legislation that would mandate a 30% reduction in vehicle emissions by 2016. 14 other States have joined the lawsuit to enforce stricter limits than the federal ones.
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2007-11-09
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On 8 November, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Edmund G. Brown filed a lawsuit against the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to force a decision on California's request to cut greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from light-duty vehicles. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, charges the EPA with an unreasonable delay in deciding on California's landmark law AB 1493, which mandates a 30% reduction in vehicle emissions by 2016, starting with the model year 2009. So far, 14 other US States, among them New York, have joined the lawsuit.
Schwarzenegger filed the lawsuit nearly two years after California applied for a waiver request that is necessary to implement the nation's first emission standards. In letters from April and October he had already warned to sue the EPA, arguing that the agency does not need more time to review the facts. California's legal action comes after the California Air Resources Board submitted a 251-page assessment in 2005, and the US Supreme Court confirmed earlier this year that greenhouse gases are pollutants to be ruled by the EPA.
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The EPA argues, however, that it needs to review the issue thoroughly, referring to the huge amount of public comments received. The California lawsuit, on the contrary, states that these comments overwhelmingly support the GHG regulation: out of about 98,000 comments more than 99.9% support California's emission law.
Lawsuit outcome crucial for future GHG action
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Key arguments by Californian authorities are: - Cars generate 20% of all human-made CO2 emissions in the United States, and at least 30% of such emissions in California. The longer the delay in reducing these emissions, the more costly and harmful will be the impact on the state, the filed lawsuit argues.
- In 2006, California passed AB 32 to cut greenhouse gas emissions back to 1990 levels by 2020 – a reduction of 174 million metric tons. The enforcement of AB 1493 alone would account for 17% of this reduction target.
- 16 other states* have adopted, or are in the process of adopting standards similar to that of California. Only if the waiver request is granted for California, these states are permitted to adopt the same rules.
- In at least ten of the 16 states, accounting for more than 40% of the US population, the regulations would apply to the 2009 model year. Therefore, a timely decision by the EPA is crucial to enforce the law before the marketing for the 2009 models start as early as in January 2008.
Positions
If the EPA denies the waiver, "we sue again, and sue again, and sue again until we get it," California Governor Schwarzenegger told reporters.
"If the federal government won't lead on this critical issue, it should get out of the way of states like New York that are moving forward with sensible steps to address the climate crisis," New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said in a statement.
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More information:
 Complaint for Unreason, California vs. EPA, 5 Nov 2007 (190 KB)
› Press Release Californian Government, 8 Nov 2007
› Read the article "California & EPA still at odds over car emissions", 12 October
* Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, Washington
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