For Immediate Release: 15 November 2007Contact: Josh Dorner, 202.675.2384 Ninth Circuit Tosses Out Bush AdministrationFuel Economy Standards for Light TrucksCourt Cites Failure to Address Costs of Warming in Its Opinion San Francisco, Calif.--Today, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals delivereda huge victory for the Sierra Club, several other environmental groups, andseveral states by voiding the Bush administration’s fuel economy standardsfor light trucks. The case was filed May 23, 2006 in response to lighttruck fuel economy standards finalized by the administration in April2006. The suit alleged that the standards failed to follow the processprescribed by law and that the administration acted arbitrarily andcapriciously in promulgating the light truck standards for 2008-2011. In 1975, Congress directed the National Highway Traffic SafetyAdministration (NHTSA) to set new light truck fuel economy standards foreach new model year at the "maximum feasible" level. The light trucksstandards for 2008-2011, at issue in this case, would raise fuel economy byonly 1.8 miles per gallon over that period of time. Statement of Pat Gallagher, Director of Sierra Club’s Environmental LawProgram "This decision is a stinging rebuke to the Bush administration, itscontinued insistence on ignoring the law, and stubborn refusal to takemeaningful steps to address global warming pollution from automobiles.NHTSA is free to use a cost-benefit analysis to set fuel economy standards,but today the court told them they cannot put a thumb on the scale bycontinuing to ignore the costs of failing to act on global warming. "As light trucks account for 8 percent of global warming emissions in theU.S., requiring the administration to go back and make a new standard thatmeaningfully addresses these emissions is a huge victory. Likewise,closing the so-called SUV loophole will also help us lower our globalwarming emissions and end our dangerous dependence on oil. "Finally, the court ordered the administration to go back and do a fullEnvironmental Impact Statement. The Bush administration can no longersimply ignore its legal responsibility to do so because it finds itinconvenient." ------- For the full decision, please contact Josh Dorner. A brief excerpt fromtoday’s decision: "NHTSA’s failure to monetize the value of carbon emissionsin its determination of the MY 2008-2011 light truck CAFEstandards, failure to set a backstop, failure to revise the passengerautomobile/light truck classifications, and failure to setfuel economy standards for all vehicles in the 8,500 to 10,000lb. GVWR class, was arbitrary and capricious and contrary tothe EPCA. We therefore remand to NHTSA to promulgatenew standards consistent with this opinion as expeditiously aspossible and for the earliest model year practicable.We also hold that the EA was inadequate and Petitionershave raised a substantial question as to whether the FinalAction may have a significant impact on the environment.Thus, we remand to NHTSA for the preparation of a full EIS." # # #
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