AUTOS - California emissions law upheld - A judge rejects a suit by carmakers and says the state can set greenhouse gas limits. The EPA is the only roadblock left.

In a major defeat for automakers, a federal judge in Fresno ruled Wednesday that California could set its own standards on greenhouse-gas emissions from vehicles. But the state still needs permission from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to implement the rules.

"Both EPA and California . . . are equally empowered through the Clean Air Act to promulgate regulations that limit the emissions of greenhouse gases, principally carbon dioxide, from motor vehicles," U.S. District Court Judge Anthony W. Ishii said, citing recent decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court and a federal court in Vermont. Automakers had argued that only the federal government had such power.

The decision is the second time this year that courts have rebuffed the auto industry's attempts to forestall regulation of tailpipe emissions by states, which have grown impatient with the Bush administration on the issue of global warming.

The Supreme Court has ruled that greenhouse-gas regulation falls to the EPA under clear-air legislation, but the agency has issued no regulations on carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping emissions. Nor has it granted California the right to enact its own rules. California already has the power to regulate pollutants such as particulates from vehicles.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called Wednesday's ruling "another important victory in the fight against global warming," adding, "California and other states will prevail in our goal to take aggressive action on climate change."

California has plans to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by 30% from 2009 to 2016, under a plan passed by the California Air Resources Board in 2004.

State Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown, though enthusiastic about Wednesday's ruling, expressed concern that the EPA could drag its feet indefinitely in making a decision on the state's waiver request, which has been pending for nearly two years. In November, California sued to force an EPA ruling. "Dragging it out would be a disaster and a gross dereliction in duty," Brown said.

A spokeswoman for the EPA said the Fresno ruling shouldn't affect EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson's pledge to issue a ruling on California's waiver request by the end of the year. EPA lawyers, however, are reviewing the ruling to determine whether "there are any relevant ramifications" for how the agency decides on the matter, the spokeswoman said.

Environmental groups were jubilant in the wake of the decision.