xcel
12-16-2006, 11:05 PM
They ask federal judge to dismiss lawsuit seeking millions in damages for carbon dioxide emissions. (http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061216/BIZ/612160320/1148/AUTO01)
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/California_Forest_Fire_size_and_intensity_increasing_due_to_GW.jpgDavid Shepardson - The Detroit News - Dec. 16, 2006
California Forest Fires have become larger in size, intensity and are increasingly costly in $ amounts and lives lost year over year. Global Warming is considered the number one culprit.
WASHINGTON -- Lawyers for the largest U.S. and Japanese automakers Friday asked a federal judge to throw out a suit filed by California that claims vehicle carbon dioxide emissions are harming the health of Californians and damaging the environment in the Golden State.
The suit, filed by Attorney General Bill Lockyer in September, argues that General Motors Corp., Toyota Motor Corp., Ford Motor Co., Honda Motor Co., Nissan Motor Corp. and DaimlerChrysler A.G.'s Chrysler Group have violated public nuisance laws by contributing to global warming. The lawsuit seeks millions of dollars in damages.
It's the latest front in a multi-pronged legal battle to force the automakers and the federal government to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
In a 35-page motion to dismiss filed late Friday, the automakers responded to the latest fight in California.
The lawsuit "has no legitimate origins in federal or state law, no jurisprudential stopping point and the potential to wreak incalculable damage on the nation's carefully regulated transportation industry and the national economy. The lawsuit is frivolous, meritless and must be dismissed," the automakers wrote.
"California, in particular, fosters a culture and identity that affirmatively encourages the use of the very product that it now seeks to brand as a nuisance," the automakers said.
Theodore J. Boutros, a Los Angeles lawyer representing the automakers, said the global warming debate belongs in Congress, not in the courts.
"These products are lawful, they are expressly allowed by federal and state law and California encourages their use," Boutros said in an interview Friday.
The suit notes that California has more than 37,000 government owned vehicles, builds highways and actively encourages people to drive. There are 500,000 state, federal and locally owned vehicles in California.
California residents own 32.5 million vehicles -- or 13.5 percent of all U.S. vehicles, according to Transportation Department statistics released this week.
In its lawsuit, California officials claimed "global warming has already injured California, its environment, its economy and the health and well-being of its citizens," including reducing fresh water supplies.
In September, Lockyer said he filed the suit because the automakers and the federal government have failed to address global warming.
"We can't wait another 10 years," he said. "It is time to hold these companies responsible for their contribution to this crisis."
To date, no other states have joined the suit -- as they have in several other environmental lawsuits filed by California.
California contends in the lawsuit that the top six automakers produce vehicles that emit a total of 289 million metric tons of carbon dioxide in the United States each year -- accounting for 92 percent of all auto emissions.
Those emissions represent almost 20 percent of the carbon dioxide emissions in the U.S. and more than 30 percent of emissions in California, the suit said.
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/California_Forest_Fire_size_and_intensity_increasing_due_to_GW.jpgDavid Shepardson - The Detroit News - Dec. 16, 2006
California Forest Fires have become larger in size, intensity and are increasingly costly in $ amounts and lives lost year over year. Global Warming is considered the number one culprit.
WASHINGTON -- Lawyers for the largest U.S. and Japanese automakers Friday asked a federal judge to throw out a suit filed by California that claims vehicle carbon dioxide emissions are harming the health of Californians and damaging the environment in the Golden State.
The suit, filed by Attorney General Bill Lockyer in September, argues that General Motors Corp., Toyota Motor Corp., Ford Motor Co., Honda Motor Co., Nissan Motor Corp. and DaimlerChrysler A.G.'s Chrysler Group have violated public nuisance laws by contributing to global warming. The lawsuit seeks millions of dollars in damages.
It's the latest front in a multi-pronged legal battle to force the automakers and the federal government to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
In a 35-page motion to dismiss filed late Friday, the automakers responded to the latest fight in California.
The lawsuit "has no legitimate origins in federal or state law, no jurisprudential stopping point and the potential to wreak incalculable damage on the nation's carefully regulated transportation industry and the national economy. The lawsuit is frivolous, meritless and must be dismissed," the automakers wrote.
"California, in particular, fosters a culture and identity that affirmatively encourages the use of the very product that it now seeks to brand as a nuisance," the automakers said.
Theodore J. Boutros, a Los Angeles lawyer representing the automakers, said the global warming debate belongs in Congress, not in the courts.
"These products are lawful, they are expressly allowed by federal and state law and California encourages their use," Boutros said in an interview Friday.
The suit notes that California has more than 37,000 government owned vehicles, builds highways and actively encourages people to drive. There are 500,000 state, federal and locally owned vehicles in California.
California residents own 32.5 million vehicles -- or 13.5 percent of all U.S. vehicles, according to Transportation Department statistics released this week.
In its lawsuit, California officials claimed "global warming has already injured California, its environment, its economy and the health and well-being of its citizens," including reducing fresh water supplies.
In September, Lockyer said he filed the suit because the automakers and the federal government have failed to address global warming.
"We can't wait another 10 years," he said. "It is time to hold these companies responsible for their contribution to this crisis."
To date, no other states have joined the suit -- as they have in several other environmental lawsuits filed by California.
California contends in the lawsuit that the top six automakers produce vehicles that emit a total of 289 million metric tons of carbon dioxide in the United States each year -- accounting for 92 percent of all auto emissions.
Those emissions represent almost 20 percent of the carbon dioxide emissions in the U.S. and more than 30 percent of emissions in California, the suit said.