Judge Rules VT Can Enact Stricter Auto Under Clean Air Act: CLF Applauds Decision as Victory for Efforts to Curb Global Warming

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Colin Durrant, CLF Director of Communications
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Burlington, VT (September 12, 2007) In a victory for states’ efforts to curb global warming, a Vermont federal judge today rejected a lawsuit by carmakers seeking to block the State of Vermont’s adoption of strict, new auto emissions standards to cut global warming pollution from cars and trucks.

The Conservation Law Foundation, whose environmental lawyers worked side by side with the Vermont Attorney General’s office, applauded the decision as a “major rebuke to the national automakers’ attempts to avoid their responsibility to curb global warming emissions from cars and trucks.”

Melissa Hoffer, CLF vice-president, said “This is a tremendous victory for everyone who is concerned about the impacts of global warming. The Court’s decision today confirms that states can and must lead the way on combating climate change by adopting stricter auto emissions standards under the Clean Air Act.”

Steve Hinchman, CLF staff attorney said, “It’s now time for the automakers to wake up to the reality of climate change and use readily available technology and their own ingenuity to make their cars cleaner and safer for the future.”

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE RULING:

In the 240-page decision, the Court emphasized the Supreme Court’s recent recognition of the “phenomenon of global warming and its potentially catastrophic effects upon on our environment,” as well as the fact that there are “human-generated contributions to global warming, including carbon dioxide emissions from motor vehicles.” The Court emphasized that the auto industry can rise to the challenge of meeting the greenhouse gas standards—“history suggests that the ingenuity of the industry, once put in gear, responds admirably to most technological challenges.”

Specifically, the Court ruled that, assuming the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grants California’s pending waiver request, California’s Clean Air Act greenhouse gas standard to limit global warming emissions from motor vehicles, adopted by Vermont, is not preempted by the Energy Policy Conservation Act.

Rejecting the automakers’ arguments, the Court held that once EPA grants the waiver, the CA greenhouse gas standard becomes a federal standard that must be taken into account by the federal agency responsible for setting fuel economy standards. The Court also held that, even if preemption did apply, the automakers failed to show that the greenhouse gas standard conflicted with the goals of the federal fuel economy statute since it would not interfere with regulators’ ability to set fuel economy standards.

The Conservation Law Foundation works to solve the environmental problems that threaten the people, natural resources and communities of New England. CLF’s advocates use law, economics and science to design and implement strategies that conserve natural resources, protect public health, and promote vital communities in our region. Founded in 1966, CLF is a nonprofit, member-supported organization. It has offices in Boston, Massachusetts; Concord, New Hampshire; Providence, Rhode Island; Montpelier, Vermont; and Brunswick, Maine.