Supreme Court Acknowledges Global Warming

April 3, 2007 by Jeff.

I’m pleased that the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the states on the CO2 case. In a nutshell, they determined that tailpipe emissions of CO2 are a pollutant and that the Federal Government - doing business as the EPA - has to do something about it. At a minimum, they have to allow individual states to legislate new standards.  States will now have more freedom to set their own emissions standards and force car makers to build what they should have started building long ago - fuel-efficient cars. I for one will not be sorry to see the demise of Chevy Suburbans and Lincoln Navigators.

Here is a snippet from the AP describing the situation:

Supreme Court to Hear Arguments on Tailpipe Emissions
By LISA FRIEDMAN\ Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — U.S. Supreme Court justices on Wednesday began weighing whether to force the federal EPA to regulate tailpipe emissions in a high-stakes case that could test California’s new greenhouse gas laws and set the stage for congressional action on global warming.

Led by Massachusetts and California, a dozen states argued that they face an imminent environmental threat unless the Environmental Protection Agency acts, and attorney James Milkey likened the harm from emissions to “lighting a fuse on a bomb.”

But Deputy Solicitor General Gregory Garre argued that the EPA lacks the power to regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant under the Clean Air Act. And even if it had the authority, Garre said, it would not act because of “the substantial scientific uncertainty surrounding global climate change.”

For California, the outcome of the case could determine whether it can proceed with sweeping regulations requiring new vehicles sold in the state to cut tailpipe emissions by 30 percent by 2016.

Automakers have sued to block the rules, which are set to start in 2009.

If the justices rule that the federal government must regulate tailpipe emissions, it could free the state and others with similar laws from legal threats.

But if justices rule that the Clean Air Act does not cover climate change, emissions-reduction laws could be stopped in their tracks.

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