NationStates Jolt Archive

My apologies if i missed this on another thread here.
Again, the Bush administration takes a few more hits in the public eye, well deserved or not.
I'm a little pissed that the only likely reason this came up is due the current cost of oil, instead of for being responsible, but it came up nonetheless. I think they're also beating Bush to the punch of his limp noodle statement earlier this past week.

How many class-action suits can it take to make the govt. regulate the oil industry differently? And on that note, Eliot Spitzer certainly has merited his name underlined in the article:


http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=politicsNews&storyID=2006-05-02T194413Z_01_N02267697_RTRUKOC_0_US-ENERGY-FUEL-LAWSUIT.xml

States sue Bush over fuel efficiency
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Nine states have sued the administration of President George W. Bush for lenient automotive fuel economy standards that they say worsen an energy crunch and contribute to air pollution and climate change.

The lawsuit says that the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has failed to meet federal laws requiring government to determine the impact of regulation on fuel conservation and the environment.

"At a time when consumers are struggling to pay surging gas prices and the challenge of global climate change has become even more clear, it is unconscionable that the Bush Administration is not requiring greater mileage efficiency for light trucks," said New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer in a press release.

In March, the Bush administration approved a 1.9 mile-per-gallon increase in the standards for sport utility vehicles, minivans and pickups -- all in the light truck class that includes big gas guzzlers -- to 24.1 mpg between 2008 and 2011. It also rewrote the rules for calculating how far light trucks must go on a gallon of gasoline.

But the lawsuit, joined by the attorneys general of California, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Vermont, says the move included language that could "create incentives to build larger, less fuel-efficient models" and attempts to pre-empt a California law requiring a reduction of greenhouse gas tailpipe emissions.

Bush said last week he is also seeking authority from Congress to allow him to boost fuel-efficiency standards for passenger cars. Bush proposed no specific figure for increasing mileage standards for cars for the first time in 16 years, but officials said they wanted broad changes.

Environmentalists have long urged a substantial increase in fuel-economy standards, which they view as one of the most effective means of reducing the U.S. appetite for foreign oil.

The attorney general of the District of Columbia and the corporate counsel for New York City have also joined.

I guess it's a pretty powerful argument for states' rights...the biggest markets for cars also want the strictest standards, which means if they set them higher companies will have to do so across the board to penetrate those markets. All the more power to them, I say and I seriously hope the federal government doesn't try and force them in to backing down. I hope they take this as far as they can and win the battle.

I guess it's a pretty powerful argument for states' rights...the biggest markets for cars also want the strictest standards, which means if they set them higher companies will have to do so across the board to penetrate those markets. All the more power to them, I say and I seriously hope the federal government doesn't try and force them in to backing down. I hope they take this as far as they can and win the battle.
Agreed. Good post. *bows*

I guess it's a pretty powerful argument for states' rights...the biggest markets for cars also want the strictest standards, which means if they set them higher companies will have to do so across the board to penetrate those markets. All the more power to them, I say and I seriously hope the federal government doesn't try and force them in to backing down. I hope they take this as far as they can and win the battle.


Thirded, This is a Federal Republic.

I suppose I shouldn't have expected Michigan, or more specifically Detroit, to be one of the states, eh? But yeah, fourthed.

I suppose I shouldn't have expected Michigan, or more specifically Detroit, to be one of the states, eh? But yeah, fourthed.
One certainly wouldn't expect Detroit to be sharing a legal directive with environmentalists, either? ...

Environmentalists have long urged a substantial increase in fuel-economy standards, which they view as one of the most effective means of reducing the U.S. appetite for foreign oil.

I suppose I shouldn't have expected Michigan, or more specifically Detroit, to be one of the states, eh? But yeah, fourthed.

Of course not. The Big 3 have Lansing wrapped around their little finger.

Even moreso, an update now on this particular issue:

http://www.eyewitnessnewstv.com/Global/story.asp?S=4851329&nav=F2DO

10 states sue government over light truck fuel economy rules

WASHINGTON Massachusetts is among ten states suing the federal government over gas mileage requirements for S-U-V's and pickup trucks.

The lawsuit contends the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration failed to conduct a thorough analysis of the environmental benefits of fuel economy regulations and the impact of gasoline consumption on climate change.

The action follows the release of a government rule in late March setting tighter gas mileage rules for pickups, S-U-V's and vans.

The Bush administration says the program will save nearly eleven (b) billion gallons of fuel.

Environmentalists have expressed disappointment with the light truck rule that would lead to a fleetwide average of 24 miles-per-gallon by 2011.

Opponents of the Bush plan call it a "sham" and a "gift" to the auto industry.
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