Governor plans to sue federal government over auto standards

Governor Schwarzenegger has announced plans to sue the federal government over its decision not to allow a California plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Environmental Protection Agency refused the state’s request for a waiver that would have allowed it to cut emissions faster than a new federal plan that President Bush had signed into law. “It’s another example of the administration’s failure to treat global warming with the seriousness that it actually demands,” the governor said at a news conference. “Anything less than aggressive action on the greatest environmental threat of all time is inexcusable,” he said.

It has subsequently been reported that the EPA head ignored his own staff recommendation in making the decision: “California met every criteria … on the merits,” an anonymous member of the EPA staff told the Los Angeles Times. “The same criteria we have used for the last 40 years … We told him that. All the briefings we have given him laid out the facts.” It has also been reported that Vice President Cheney may have been behind the controversial decision.

Staff at the EPA said the agency’s chief went against their expert advice after car executives met Cheney, and a Chrysler executive delivered a letter to the EPA saying why the state should not be allowed to regulate greenhouse gases.

EPA staff members told the Times that the agency’s head- Bush appointee Stephen Johnson, ignored their conclusions and shut himself off from consultation in the month before the announcement. He then informed them of his decision and instructed them to provide the legal rationale for it.