BURLINGTON, Vt. – General Motors Corp. and other carmakers today lost a bid to block carbon-reduction rules in Vermont, in the first case to challenge states’ rights to regulate pollutants linked to global warming, Bloomberg News reported.
In his ruling, U.S. District Judge William Sessions said the regulations enacted by California and adopted by Vermont and other states aren’t preempted by federal rules, as carmakers had argued. And, though automakers claim the rules would cost them billions of dollars, he ruled the industry had failed to show they were too burdensome. The court remains unconvinced automakers cannot meet the challenges” of the regulations, Sessions said in his decision.
Dave McCurdy, president of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, which had joined the automakers in their lawsuit against the State of Vermont, said the group is considering an appeal; GM referred all queries to the alliance.
“Federal law is designed to ensure a consistent fuel economy program across the country,” McCurdy said in a statement. “It makes sense that only the federal government can regulate fuel economy.”
That point was addressed by Sessions in his decision, however; the California rules focus on reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, “and are sufficiently unrelated to fuel economy standards,” the judge said.
The U.S. Clean Air Act lets California set emissions rules that are stricter than federal standards, if the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grants a waiver. Other states then may adopt either standard.
Today’s ruling, if upheld, will bolster efforts by Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New York, California and at least five other states to regulate carbon dioxide and other gases linked to global warming in advance of federal regulations.
“This case is a watershed moment in the legal battle over the California standards and will undoubtedly have an important impact on similar cases pending in California and Rhode Island,” said David Bookbinder, a lawyer with the Sierra Club, which sided with Vermont in the case.
After the court decision, the governors of 13 states – including R.I. Gov. Donald L. Carcieri and Mass. Gov. Deval L. Patrick – sent a joint letter to the CEOs of the major automakers urging them to “withdraw your legal challenges to clean vehicle standards and begin working with us to meet our joint obligations to begin reversing the threat of global warming.”
“The public is demanding that states, in the absence of federal action, take real and meaningful steps to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases,” the governors wrote. “Ensuring that our automobiles have a lower carbon footprint is an essential piece of our greenhouse-gas reduction strategy.”
A longer article on today’s court decision will appear in the Sept. 17 Providence Business News.
