The Bush administration has urged a federal appeals court to set aside a ruling by a federal judge that said states have the to authority regulate greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles.
The move is in support of the auto industry.
The Justice Department in a friend-of-the-court brief says the ruling in Vermont should be dismissed because the case was dependent upon California receiving a waiver from the Environmental Protection Agency to reduce vehicle greenhouse gas emissions.
The government argues that federal law pre-empts state rules in the regulation of fuel economy standards. And Vermont’s rules were contingent upon EPA granting California the exemption.
Congressional Democrats and states supporting the waiver accuse the EPA of denying the exemption based on politics, rather than science.