Federal court tosses mileage standards -

SAN FRANCISCO

November 15, 2007 1:11pm

In a detailed, 90-page ruling issued Thursday, the court says the administration’s efforts were full of holes and could ultimately harm the environment. The judges told the government to “promulgate new standards as expeditiously as possible and to prepare a full environmental impact statement.”

“This decision sends a clear message that the Congress must get serious about combating dangerous foreign oil dependency and global warming. This is a major victory and a stunning rebuke to the Bush administration and its failed energy policies,” says California Attorney General Jerry Brown, who along with other states and organizations had sued to overturn the standards.

California’s lawsuit argued that the administration had failed to consider the effects of vehicles’ greenhouse gas emissions on global warming, a requirement under the National Environmental Policy Act, when formulating new mileage standards.

Under the Energy Policy and Conservation Act — adopted 40 years ago in response to the first Arab oil crisis — the National Highway Traffic Safety Administrations sets gas mileage standards for motor vehicles.

But the NHTSA ordered only a one-mile per gallon increase, from 22 to 23 miles per gallon by 2010, which Mr. Brown challenged in court as a violation of federal environmental law.

“A paltry one-mile-per gallon increase in gas mileage was clearly unlawful,” says Mr. Brown, “and today’s decision to reject that dangerously misguided policy is a victory for states that want to fight climate disruption and oil dependency.”

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