California Sues EPA Over Greenhouse Gas Rules

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California sued the Environmental Protection Agency yesterday for denying its first-in-the-nation greenhouse gas limits on cars, trucks, and SUVs, 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 December 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 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 of California told the Associated Press in an interview yesterday.

In announcing his decision last month, Mr. 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 mpg by 2020, he said.

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 the California Air Resources Board chairwoman, Mary Nichols.

"[EPA officials] are ignoring the will of millions of people who want their government to take action in the fight against global warming," Governor Schwarzenegger said in a statement. The EPA's denial angered members of Congress. Senator Boxer and Rep. Henry Waxman, who chair the committees that oversee the EPA, said the agency ignored requirements in the Clean Air Act.