http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120994726465866383.html

In the recent wake of EPA's denial to let California regulate automobile emissions with a law that is far stricter than Federal regulations, automakers are taking the fight to states that have adopted or pledged to adopt policies similar to California.

Big money is at stake. A law adopted by California in 2002 would effectively require the auto industry to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 30%, equivalent to an average fuel economy level of roughly 35 miles per gallon by 2016, four years earlier than a recently passed federal energy law.

The Bush Administration has blocked California from enforcing its proposed CO2 standards for cars, but recent decisions in federal courts pose a risk that eventually California and other states could be freed to push ahead. More than a dozen states are challenging the administration's decision in federal court, and the three remaining major-party presidential candidates have expressed support for California's efforts to regulate emissions.

The Bush Administration's logic to deny California a waiver to regulate cars' greenhouse gas emissions is that the 2007 energy bill required an increase in CAFE standards that shouldn't be pre-empted by state initiatives. The automakers are rallying around this point, bolstering it with claims of how these state regulations will hurt their sales.

Wall Street Journal, May 5, 2008

Submitted by B. Shapiro