Environmental groups are lining up behind California in a lawsuit against the
Environmental Protection Agency. Lester Graham reports, the EPA is trying to stop
California from mandating stricter greenhouse emission standards for cars and
trucks:
Transcript
Environmental groups are lining up behind California in a lawsuit against the
Environmental Protection Agency. Lester Graham reports, the EPA is trying to stop
California from mandating stricter greenhouse emission standards for cars and
trucks:
The Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council, Environmental Defense
and other big environmental groups have filed a petition with an appeals court. They
want to overturn a decision by the EPA. As soon as President Bush signed the
Energy Bill into law, the EPA Administrator said the new 35
mile per gallon standards in the Energy Act would reduce greenhouse gas emissions
enough that California’s stricter emissions standards were not necessary.
In response, California and 15 other states sued the EPA. California often leads the
nation in stricter pollution reduction standards. The Sierra Club called the EPA’s
decision – quote “another example of the Bush administration’s bad habit of ignoring
laws that is finds inconvenient.”
The EPA argues the better mileage standards will adequately lower greenhouse gas
emissions because less gasoline will be burned.
For the Environment Report, this is Lester Graham.