Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and 11 of his counterparts sent a letter to President Bush on Thursday protesting a federal proposal to limit California's right to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from autos.
The letter came two days after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration published a proposed set of fuel-efficiency standards that included a provision that would override California laws that set limits on carbon emissions from cars.
Thursday's letter called the language "an end run around 40 years of precedent" and said that if the provision was not dropped, the states would sue NHTSA.
In a separate letter, sent to the top four leaders of the Senate and the House of Representatives, the governors called the proposed rule a "cynical attempt . . . to unilaterally rewrite the Clean Air Act and claim authority over greenhouse gas emissions."
Because of a legal precedent, California has the right to regulate its own air quality, and other states have the right to adopt California's air standards as their own. In addition to California, the governors of Arizona, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Vermont and Washington signed the letter.
The dispute is the latest in a series between California and the Bush administration over vehicle-related greenhouse gases. In January, multiple states, including California, sued the Environmental Protection Agency over its refusal to grant a waiver that would allow them to regulate those tailpipe emissions.
ken.bensinger@latimes.com
