California's efforts to combat global warming with tough restrictions on tailpipe emissions got a boost Wednesday from a federal judge, who upheld states' right to require that vehicles emit far fewer pollutants.
The judge, ruling in a lawsuit filed by automakers against Vermont, said that that state's emissions standards -- which are based on those outlined in a 2002 California law -- weren't "sufficiently draconian" to usurp the federal government's right to set fuel economy standards.
U.S. District Judge William K. Sessions III said he was confident that manufacturers could build cleaner cars.
"History suggests," he said in his decision, "that the ingenuity of the industry once put in gear responds admirably to most technological challenges."
A similar suit filed by carmakers against California is awaiting trial in federal court in Fresno. State officials and their environmental allies said they were confident they would win now that Sessions had handed down a 240-page decision studded with sophisticated scientific and engineering arguments dismissing carmakers' claims.
The relatively new emissions rules in California, Vermont and a dozen other states focus on limiting the release of carbon dioxide and other so-called greenhouse gases that contribute to rising global temperatures.
The rules' implementation could boost the average fuel economy of gasoline-powered cars to an estimated 43.5 mpg in 2016 from 27.5 mpg today, according to James Tripp, an attorney with Environmental Defense, one of the parties in the Vermont and California lawsuits.
The domestic and foreign auto companies that filed the suits in Vermont and California said in a statement that they were "weighing their options, including an appeal."
Kim Custer, the communications director for the Assn. of International Automobile Manufacturers, which includes Toyota, Nissan, Honda and other foreign firms, said the association was worried that the country could "end up with a patchwork of different regulations as more and more states opt for the California regulations."
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called the Vermont ruling an "important victory in the fight against global warming." The governor and state Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown have vowed to sue the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency if it doesn't give California the waiver needed to set its stringent emissions rules in motion. The state requested the waiver in 2005.
