Lawyers for eleven states, including Vermont, say the Bush administration failed to consider global warming when setting new gas mileage rules.
In a federal appeals court yesterday in San Francisco the plaintiffs argued that federal regulators ignored the effects of carbon dioxide emissions when calculating fuel economy standards for light trucks and sport utility vehicles.
The new mileage standards, announced in March 2006, require an increase in the average fuel economy for all passenger trucks from 22.2 miles per gallon to 23.5 miles per gallon by 2010.
The suit seeks to force the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to recalculate its mileage standards, taking carbon dioxide emissions into account.