California Governer Arnold Schwarzenegger intensified his battle with
the Bush administration over environmental issues Thursday, announcing
that his state was suing the government to gain the right to enact its
own laws limiting auto emissions.
The maverick Republican politician and former movie star accused
the federal Environmental Protection Agency of stalling on granting
that authority to California. The most populous state in the US is
leading a group of 14 other states who wish to enact similar limits on
emissions that are blamed for global warming.
"California is ready to implement the nation's cleanest standards
for vehicle emissions, but we cannot do that until the federal
government grants a waiver allowing us to enforce those standards,"
Schwarzenegger said.
"Our air quality, our health and our environment are too important
to delay any longer, and it is not just the people of California who
are waiting. Those states that want to follow our lead cannot do so
until federal permission is granted," he said.
Among the states who have said they will join the lawsuit are
Massachusetts, New York, Arizona, Connecticut, Illinois, Maine,
Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont,
Washington and Pennsylvania.
Under the Federal Clean Air Act passed in 1990, California has the
right to set its own tougher-than-federal vehicle emission standards as
long as it obtains a waiver from the EPA.
Last year, California passed a law calling for the most far-
reaching greenhouse gas emissions reductions in the United States,
saying it would cut global warming gases to 1990 levels by 2020 - or by
25 per cent from current levels.
But the EPA tried to avoid giving a waiver until the US Supreme
Court ruled in April that the EPA did indeed have that right to
regulate greenhouse gases under the 1990 act. The EPA says it will make
a decision on California's request for a waiver next year.
"Automotive emissions of greenhouse gases are increasing more
rapidly than any other source," said the state in the lawsuit filed in
the US District Court in Washington. "The longer the delay in reducing
these emissions, the more costly and harmful will be the impact on
California."
