Justice Dept. Battles Vermont on Emissions Ruling
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The Justice Department today filed an amicus (friend-of-the-court) brief asking a Federal Appeals Court to set aside a ruling granting Vermont the ability to establish its own regulations on greenhouse gas emissions. The Bush Administration is siding with the auto industry, which backed the recent CAFE standards. California and Vermont have attempted to supersede this via waiver. The EPA invalidated the waiver for California in December. The original ruling had tied Vermont to California. The government’s amicus brief is here.
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24 Comments
shef Rogers:If we adopted the same MPG standards now in place in Europe, we would not have to import one single barrel of oil. Bill O’Reilly said it best: “The people who make SUVs are hurting every single American…except the people who make SUVs.”
Apr 17, 2008 - 2:50 pm Dr. Ellen:Why is it patriotic to drive a gas guzzler, funding Russia and Saudi Arabia? Can anybody explain that to me?
Why is it patriotic to give a hoot what shef Rogers says?
Apr 17, 2008 - 3:31 pm Jeff:If we attempted to adopt the same MPG standards as Europe, you’d have to tranquilize Ralph Nader - because you cannot make a useful car (aka one that people will buy) that gets that sort of mileage and will still meet crashworthiness standards.
Apr 17, 2008 - 3:31 pm Justin:Uh, shef Rogers….It’s called Liberty. Look it up.
Apr 17, 2008 - 3:31 pm James:Shef, this isn’t Europe. There, mass transit is far more developed, and places are much closer together.
Apr 17, 2008 - 3:40 pm edh:“If we adopted the same MPG standards now in place in Europe, we would not have to import one single barrel of oil.”
Citation please?
Apr 17, 2008 - 3:47 pm Nicolo M.:Justin, “Liberty” - with all due respect - is a slightly more complicated concept. Maybe some of us are concerned that your “Liberty” is financing the enemies of liberty. Follow me.
Apr 17, 2008 - 3:50 pm Craig:The people who drive SUV’s are paying more for gas, but they’re not hurting me or you for that matter. The people who are hurting me (and you for that matter) are the ones preventing oil-drilling in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico (and anywhere else in the U.S. that it’s discovered.)
By the way, if we adopted the same MPG standards as Europe, we wouldn’t see any appreciable cut in usage for a decade while older cars were gradually retired. By that time, global warming will have been proved to be an error or a hoax and the whole subject will be academic.
Apr 17, 2008 - 3:57 pm M. Simon:Nicolo,
Maybe some of are upset that stupid Green ideas are starving children. Liberty cuts both ways.
I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than those attending too small a degree of it. - Thomas Jefferson
Apr 17, 2008 - 4:06 pm DaveS:We should take away any and all freedoms necessary to properly protect liberty from its enemies.
Apr 17, 2008 - 4:09 pm bc:The Europeans have different standards? I always wondered why the drove those stupid little cars.
Apr 17, 2008 - 5:35 pm Timothy Harris:Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.
Benjamin Franklin, 1755
Apr 17, 2008 - 5:57 pm freetoken:Got to go with Federalism here…. yes, I know that supposedly the emissions laws limit the states, but I believe that is wrong. The Feds should set a minimum level for pollution, gas mileage, etc., but states should be allowed to set stricter requirements as they see fit.
Apr 17, 2008 - 6:38 pm Engineer-Poet:Quoth Craig:
Why do so-called “conservatives” insist on believing things that are manifestly false? Here’s the straight dope:When USA oil production peaked in 1970, national consumption was about 14.7 million barrels/day.US oil consumption is now about 20.6 million barrels/day.US oil production has fallen from 11.3 million barrels/day to 6.9 million barrels/day.Meanwhile, imports rose from 3.4 million bbl/day to 12.3 million bbl/day.
ANWR couldn’t compensate for the increased consumption even if US production had held at its 1970 peak. Anyone claiming that we can drill our way out of this is insane, lying, or duped by one of the former.
Hogwash. Cars cover half their lifetime mileage in their first 6 years.
Guy calls himself Craig
Apr 17, 2008 - 8:41 pm CaptDMO:Can’t find his a** with both hands
Dumb ideologue!
What, exactly, is the average MPG of a
Apr 17, 2008 - 10:30 pm Bill Bradley:Lamborghini, Ferrari, Avanti, Lotus, or BMW on the Autobahn?
How about when shopping around town?
If the US didn’t import any oil, how would all that “waste” water get distilled out of the squeezins from extra corn for B5 and E85?
John McCain, Mike Huckabee, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama all endorsed allowing California the ability to set its own standards as has been the case since the passage of the Clean Air Act. Vermont and many other states are following along.
This will happen.
Apr 17, 2008 - 10:42 pm Maisy P:The Justice Dept should go back after Vermont for all the methane their dairy cows produce. Talk about producing greenhouse gasses! Honestly, in the summer, stand even near one of these big farms and you get woozy from the smell.
Apr 18, 2008 - 4:43 am Eric:If the eco-Marxists and their Democrat allies would stop blockading access to our own oil resources offshore and in ANWR then oil wouldn’t be $100/bbl and we wouldn’t be funding terrorism. Need a scapegoat for oil prices? Look no further than Washington D.C.
And Google “Bakken” when you get a chance. May be up to 500 BILLION barrels.
Apr 21, 2008 - 8:19 pm Engineer-Poet:Bakken has between 3.0 and 4.3 billion barrels of recoverable reserves, according to the United States Geological Survey.
Why are you exaggerating this by more than a factor of 100, Eric? Are you a Saudi propagandist, trying to keep Americans from ditching oil soon enough to save themselves from the Islamists?
Apr 21, 2008 - 10:43 pm Engineer-Poet:A much more detailed look at the Bakken formation and how much oil we’re likely to get out of it (vs. how much is in there but will never come out) is now at The Oil Drum.
Disclaimer: I write for them occasionally.
Apr 23, 2008 - 4:31 pm