Bush administration backs automakers in Vermont in GHG emissions case
Photo by dcJohn. Licensed under Creative Commons license 2.0.
The auto industry got some White House support this week in an ongoing legal case in Vermont over states' rights to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. The White House filed a friend-of-the-court brief backing the automakers and asking that a federal judge's ruling granting states these rights be set aside. The Justice Department's reasoning is that since the ruling was dependent upon an EPA waiver that California had hoped to receive but was rejected in December, the ruling is invalidated. Vermont Attorney General William Sorrell disagrees and said yesterday that, "there's a long way the Bush administration has to go before they're going to uphold the validity of the denial of the waiver. We look forward to that fight," according to USA Today. You can find the administration's amicus brief here. Thanks to Jon for the heads-up.
[Sources: USA Today, Pajamas Media]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
BoomBoom 10:46AM (4/18/2008)
Bush backs state's right on every issue.. unless it has to do with pollution & the environment (or big business).
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Mike Z 10:52AM (4/18/2008)
I think the idea of states regulating co2 emissions is a rather straight forward no with regard to the interstate commerce clause.
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Terry Hannon 11:41AM (4/18/2008)
I agree that the regulations should be handled at the federal level, but when the federal government does nothing the states should be allowed to step in by either enacting their own regulations or forcing the government to create good regulations.
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Tim 1:01PM (4/18/2008)
President Bush wouldn't recognize the Constitutional Limitations of Federal power (10th Amendment) if you rubbed his nose in the Constitution. He could NOT care less. Then again, neither does Obama, Clinton II or McCain.
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Julius 9:56AM (4/21/2008)
Of course, noone comments on the idea of regulating CO2 emissions via a carbon tax, do they?
And where is Vermont on regulating CO2 emissions on Ohio's coal-fired electricity plants? IIRC, Vermont "imports" alot of electricity, too. (This'll be a big issue if they don't renew Vermont Yankee's license after 2012 - something of a concern as a cooling tower collapsed last year from maintenance issues).
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Dad 6:07PM (4/21/2008)
All the real issues that the folks should be concerned with and they waste their time on plitical posturing over EPA regs. How about they put their time into combating drugs, gangs, crime, improving schools, etc?
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Jay Alt 1:41AM (6/09/2008)
Julius -
A carbon tax is a non-starter in this country. We want effective action and gasoline consumption has historically been nearly unresponsive to price signals.
We need a price on carbon. Cap-and-trade for emissions from major sources is a good start. Clean up electricity production with Renewable Portfolio Standards, Production and Investment Tax credits for wind and solar, conservation incentives for utilities, and nuclear power if they can compete.
Vermont is a member of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a NE States consortium. Ohio belongs to the Midwest Regional group. Federal legislation could put them all under the same umbrella and rules, avoid confusion, conflicts and prevent leakage.
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