By David G. Savage, Times Staff Writer|November 25, 2006
WASHINGTON — The polar icecaps are melting, summers growing hotter and hurricanes becoming more powerful, but the Bush administration has insisted it cannot regulate the gases that many believe are responsible.
On Wednesday, a coalition of 12 states, led by California and Massachusetts, will try to persuade the Supreme Court that the nation's environmental regulators have the legal authority and responsibility to control greenhouse gas emissions linked to global warming -- which many scientists describe as the biggest environmental threat to the planet.
It is a rare day when state lawyers travel to Washington hoping to win new powers for the federal government. As David Bookbinder, a Sierra Club lawyer, noted, "How often do federal authorities insist they lack the authority to do something?"
The administration's approach to another global issue -- terrorism -- has been to assert broad powers to act at home and abroad. On the environmental front, the administration says, it is studying the problem and "seeking a cooperative international approach to addressing global climate change," Solicitor General Paul Clement wrote in his brief to the court.
Putting new limits on motor vehicles and power plants is out of the question, at least for now, he added, saying, "the Environmental Protection Agency lacks authority under the Clean Air Act
The case before the Supreme Court tests that conclusion. It begins with a simple question: Is carbon dioxide an "air pollutant" under the Clean Air Act? The answer may determine not only whether federal regulators must tackle global warming, but also whether California and other states may do so on their own.
Four years ago, California adopted stricter rules. The state Legislature declared its intent to "achieve the maximum feasible and cost-effective reduction of greenhouse gas emissions" from motor vehicles. These standards for new cars and trucks are to take effect in 2009.
The California way
Because of California's notorious smog problem, Congress permitted the Golden State to adopt stricter exhaust standards for cars and trucks under a special provision in the federal air pollution laws of the 1970s. Other states are allowed to follow California's lead, and 10 -- from New England to the Pacific Northwest -- have plans to do so.
