I don’t often get the chance to share good environmental news here at MM.com, but I just got word through the Environmental Defense network that a federal judge in Vermont “ruled against the U.S. auto industry’s attempt to block California and 14 other states from setting tough new limits on global warming pollution from automobiles” today. Here’s a bit of detail from the letter.
…In the ruling, Federal Judge William K. Sessions found that the auto industry had failed to prove that it could not meet the tailpipe standards, that the new standards would endanger drivers or that Congress had forbidden states from setting their own pollution limits.
This ruling comes less than six months after a historic Supreme Court decision in early April that the Environmental Protection Agency has an obligation to regulate carbon dioxide under the Clean Air Act.
These are huge victories. Today’s ruling not only puts us on solid legal ground for a parallel case in the California courts this summer, but, combined with the Supreme Court’s April decision, adds enormous momentum to our efforts to cap and reduce America’s global warming pollution…
[If you haven’t done so already, now would be a perfect time to celebrate by signing our fuel efficiency petition.]
