For Immediate Release:
December 12, 2007
Contact: David Willett, 202-491-6919
Victory for California Clean Car Law
Sierra Club Calls on EPA to stop delay on waiver
Fresno, CA: In a significant victory in the fight to reduce global warming
pollution, today the Federal District Court in Fresno dismissed the auto
industry's claims that federal law barred California from enforcing it own
motor vehicle greenhouse gas regulations. In a 57-page decision, Judge
Anthony Ishii held that these regulations did not in any way conflict with
either federal fuel economy laws or with the President's power to conduct
foreign policy. Emphasizing that the Clean Air Act expressly authorizes
California to regulate emissions that affect human health and the
environment, Judge Ishii found that Congress did not intend that this
authority be curtailed by federal fuel economy laws.
Statement of David Bookbinder, Sierra Club Chief Climate Counsel
“Once again a judge has found the auto industry’s desperate attempts to
stay mired in outdated, dirty technology completely without merit. Today’s
decision is just one more reason why EPA should stop dragging its feet and
grant the waiver California needs to move forward with this vital tool to
combat global warming.
“Just as we said earlier this year when we celebrated a similar victory in
a Vermont court, instead of the automakers thinking of excuses, it’s time
for them to put their immense know-how toward solving some of our most
pressing problems. This ruling should compel the U.S. automakers to make
the kind of clean, efficient cars Americans want--the kind that foreign
automakers have used to surge to record profits as the U.S. auto industry
buckled under the weight of its gas guzzlers. This ruling is good for the
environment, good for America, and, ultimately, good for the automakers.
"It’s now time for the Bush Administration’s EPA to get out of the way and
grant California the waiver it and other states need in order to move
forward with these landmark protections.”
Assembly Bill 1493, sometimes known as the Pavely Law after its lead
sponsor, Assemblywoman Fran Pavely, would require automobile makers to
reduce global warming emissions from new cars and light trucks beginning in
2009. The Pavely Law is a large step in the right direction because it
delivers clean car choices for consumers, and encourages cost-effective,
currently available technology to reduce global warming emissions. In
2005, the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers desperately sued the
California Air Resources Board in an attempt to block the law.
The Pavely Law has widespread support from Californians, a majority of the
California legislature, and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Twelve other
U.S. states and Canada are in various stages of adopting California's
global warming law. The last step to implement in the law is for a Clean
Air Act waiver to be granted to the state. For two years the EPA has
refused to make a decision on granting the waiver.
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