September 14, 2007
A U.S. federal district court judge upheld Vermont’s ability to enforce regulations limiting greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles. In finding for the state of Vermont, the court rejected automaker challenges concerning the regulations technical feasibility and costs, and their arguments that the rules were preempted by federal fuel economy law. The case represents a potentially major setback for automakers efforts to stop the enforcement of motor vehicle greenhouse gas regulations. Vermont as well as twelve other states now have adopted California’s greenhouse gas regulations for motor vehicles. Under the Clean Air Act, California is given special authority to adopt its own emission requirements for motor vehicles, and other states have the option of following these requirements in lieu of federal requirements.
Despite the ruling, Vermont and other states could still be prohibited from enforcing such regulations if either the U.S. EPA rejects California’s request for a waiver to implement the regulations or a federal court in California rules that California cannot enforce the rules. EPA is expected to rule on the California waiver by the end of the year. As it currently stands, the California emission requirements are set to go into effect beginning in 2009.
Some of the key highlights from the case include a finding by the court that federal fuel economy rules do not preempt the adoption of greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles. The court’s decision relied on the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Massachusetts v. EPA that rejected the claim that federal fuel economy law restricted EPA’s ability to consider regulating greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles because they overlap in some respects. Automakers argued in the Vermont case that the California regulations are essentially “de facto” fuel economy regulations and as such are preempted by federal law. The court rejected this argument, noting that, while there is some overlap between the emissions regulations and fuel economy, it concluded that the greenhouse gas regulations are sufficiently different than federal fuel economy regulations. This conclusion likely will be heavily contested by automakers in future legal battles as will the conclusions by the court that the technology improvements required by the regulations are cost-effective.
The impact of the regulations is subject to serious debate. However, both sides in the debate agree that the regulations will increase the cost of new motor vehicles. California officials and experts called by Vermont indicated that the increased cost would be offset by fuel savings. The automakers have argued that the changes will reduce vehicle availability and hurt vehicle performance. The plaintiffs in the Vermont case include General Motors, Daimler-Chrysler, and the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers. The case is currently available at the following location: http://www.vtd.uscourts.gov/Supporting%20Files/Cases/05cv302.pdf
For more information, contact Jeff Clarke at 202/824-7366 or jclarke@NGVAmerica.org
Courtesy of NGVAmerica, www.ngvamerica.org.