California vs. Automakers dropped - bickering continues, greenhouse gas emissions rise [2]
A federal judge has dismissed the lawsuit filed [7] by the State of California against auto manufacturers. The suit claimed damages against automakers for the environmental damage being caused by excessive greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles.
The judge concluded that [8] the courts aren't set up to deal with climate change and other "political questions" with international reach and that such a task belongs to Congress and the executive branch of the government.
The automakers named in the lawsuit were General Motors, Toyota, Ford Motor, Honda Motor, Daimler Chrysler and Nissan. According to the judge's 24-page opinion (pdf) [9], the six companies produce vehicles that emit over 289 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, which constitutes over 20% of human-generated carbon dioxide emissions in the United States.
In other words, our sky is a free waste dump for the car company's product. It would be like a restaurant owner throwing all the left-over food into the street and not having to pay a fine for this behavior or picking up the tab for the clean up crew.
The State of California has spent millions on studying, planning, monitoring and responding to the impacts of global warming already happening, yet the automakers do not have to spend a dime assisting the State with a problem their product played a huge role in creating.
Not only are the automakers not helping, they have been supporting another lawsuit against the State of California [10] to to block stricter greenhouse gas emissions standards for new vehicles.
Forget PR spin and industry front groups to delay action, the automakers take the global warming "debate" to a whole other level.
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