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Regis Philbin
Sep 20th, 2006, 06:24 PM
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=businessNews&storyid=2006-09-20T175818Z_01_N20199499_RTRUKOC_0_US-ENVIRONMENT-AUTOS.xml&src=rss&rpc=23


Calif. sues 6 carmakers in global warming suit

Wed Sep 20, 2006 1:59pm ET

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California filed a global warming lawsuit on Wednesday against Ford Motor Co., General Motors Corp., Toyota Motor Corp. and three other automakers, charging that greenhouse gases from their vehicles have cost the state millions of dollars.

State Attorney General Bill Lockyer said the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Northern California was the first of its kind to seek to hold manufacturers liable for the damages caused by their vehicles' emissions.

The lawsuit also names Chrysler Motors Corp., the U.S. arm of Germany's DaimlerChrysler, and the North American units of Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. Ltd..

It also charges that vehicle emissions have contributed significantly to global warming and harmed the resources, infrastructure and environmental health of the most populous state in the United States.

Lockyer, a Democrat, said the complaint states that under federal and state common law the automakers have created a public nuisance by producing "millions of vehicles that collectively emit massive quantities of carbon dioxide."

Carbon dioxide emissions and other greenhouse gases have been linked to global warming.

The lawsuit comes after California passed legislation supported by Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger that requires the state to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases by 25 percent by 2020. California was the first state to mandate reduction of greenhouse gases.

BrokenHalo
Sep 21st, 2006, 06:39 AM
Huh. Somehow I don't think this lawsuit is going to go very far. I could be mistaken because I don't live there, but I think California has an emissions test that cars must be pass before they're allowed to be registered each year (Minnesota had this prior to Jesse Ventura's stint in office, not sure if they started it up again when he left; I think I remember reading that California did this, too). If the cars passed those tests, then they were following the law at the time and you can't retroactively go back and apply a new law. Now if the automakers are not making the new requirement that's different, but really can't go back and apply it to cars already out there.

Glad to see they're working on the problem, but suing the car companies I just don't see it working to help solve the problem.

Regis Philbin
Sep 24th, 2006, 07:52 PM
Suing auto companies is just going to raise the price of cars...and make some lawyers rich.

Most states require emission testing, at least in the urban areas. I have to take my cars in every year for emission tests...

DoubleEdgeSword
Sep 25th, 2006, 05:39 AM
And some states have completely done away with emissions testing. Florida hasn't had in for at least the past 10 years or so.