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Mountain Man
Trad climber
Outer space
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Topic Author's Original Post - Sep 20, 2006 - 09:39pm PT
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California sues six automakers over global warming
September 20, 2006 16:53:00 (ET)
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) - California, taking the fight against global warming straight to the tailpipe, filed a lawsuit Wednesday against six of the world's biggest auto makers, accusing them of altering the state's climate, harming its resources, and endangering the health of its 35 million residents.
While this is the first time a state has tried to hold car makers liable for the greenhouse gases many scientists believe are heating up the atmosphere, it is merely the latest in a lengthy list of environmental battles between car-loving California and Detroit, many of which - including catalytic converters -- the Golden State has won.
"Global warming is causing significant harm to California's environment, economy, agriculture and public health," California Attorney General Bill Lockyer said in a statement announcing the suit, which takes aim at General Motors Corp. (GM, Trade), DaimlerChrysler Ag's (DCX, Trade) subsidiary Chrysler Motors Corp., and Ford Motor Co. (F, Trade).
The lawsuit also reaches across the Pacific to include North American subsidiaries of Japanese car makers Toyota Motor Corp. (TM, Trade), Honda Motor Co. Ltd. (HMC, Trade), and Nissan Motors (NSANY, Trade).
"Vehicle emissions are the single most rapidly growing source of the carbon emissions contributing to global warming, yet the federal government and automakers have refused to act. It is time to hold these companies responsible for their contribution to this crisis," Lockyer said.
The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, alleges automakers have created a public nuisance by turning out "millions of vehicles that collectively emit massive quantities of carbon dioxide."
It also asks the court to hold the companies liable for damages, including future harm. The suit does not specify how much the state is seeking in damages, however.
The attorney general's office is currently trying to fend off an attempt by the auto industry to toss aside a 2005 California law aimed at curbing auto emissions, claiming it supersedes less stringent federal laws.
California and the attorneys general in 11 other states also have a lawsuit awaiting review by the Supreme Court that challenges what they call the federal Environmental Protection Agency's refusal to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.
While the lawsuit raises suspicions of political grandstanding, it can also be seen as a next step in California's decades-old struggle to clean up its air.
California established its first air pollution control districts in 1947 in a bid to help rid Los Angeles of the smog that was choking its residents. The state also led the charge for unleaded gasoline in the 1970s, passing a law that was vigorously opposed by car manufacturers and refiners that gradually came to be enforced nationwide.
Taking lead additives out of gasoline and requiring catalytic converters on all cars sold in the state are still seen as among the most effective steps ever taken to improve air quality.
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TradIsGood
Fun-loving climber
the Gunks end of the country
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Sep 20, 2006 - 10:07pm PT
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Pedagoguery!
Instead of filing suit against his electorate he files suit against the makers of the vehicles his tax-payers are operating. Haven't seen a car pollute yet when it wasn't running.
Brain-dead. The state of California should finish the job on this wacko.
But he does lend credence to my long-held belief that CA measures pollution at the tail-pipe instead of the source, which explains their short love for electric vehicles.
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WoodySt
Trad climber
Riverside
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Sep 20, 2006 - 10:08pm PT
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Our pollution problem is growing again due to the increase in population. Much of the progress is being erased. The lawsuit is political grandstanding and won't go anywhere.
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Jacob
Trad climber
yucky valley
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Sep 20, 2006 - 10:22pm PT
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first they take our cars, then they threaten to take away the tiny bit of weed we have!!! im moving to colorado or somthin
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TGT
Social climber
So Cal
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Sep 20, 2006 - 10:25pm PT
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I heard Lack a Brain, Lockyear in a radio interview this afternoon. He had such a lack of knowledge of the facts that he had to be corrected by a radio blowhard on multiple occasions.
How did that clown ever pass the bar exam?
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NeverSurfaced
Trad climber
Someplace F*#ked!
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Sep 20, 2006 - 10:52pm PT
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Cars don't cause global warming,
People kill people
(or something like that)
Or how 'bout: You can have my car, when you pry it out of my cold, dead garage!
(TGT, which radio show?)
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TGT
Social climber
So Cal
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Sep 20, 2006 - 11:13pm PT
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He was on with Ken and John on KFI. The loud one, (I can never remember which) had a hugely better command of the facts and kept correcting him. The funniest part was that Lack a Brain kept apoligizing for screwing up and agreeing with him, negating his own arguments.
What a total idiot!
No worries! as long as he's in charge this suit is going no where.
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Majid_S
Mountain climber
Bay Area
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Sep 20, 2006 - 11:19pm PT
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I do not trust EPA nor CAEPA, both are as bad as it could get.
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Chaz
Trad climber
So. Cal.
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Sep 20, 2006 - 11:38pm PT
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So if Attorney General Lockyear wins this lawsuit and collects a few million dollars from "Big Car", will this solve, once and for all, the problem of *Global Warming*?
If it does, perhaps it's a good deal.
If it doesn't completely solve the problem, why the hell bother?
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