SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) — California on Thursday said it was suing the United States government to secure approval for the state's tough new proposals aimed at slashing vehicle greenhouse gas emissions.
At a news conference in the state capital Sacramento, Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Edmund Brown said the lawsuit had been filed over the failure of the US Environmental Protection Agency to greenlight California's standards.
California passed legislation in 2002 requiring automakers to reduce vehicle emissions 30 percent by 2016. As many as 16 other US states have reportedly indicated they will adopt California's emissions levels.
However, for the law to take effect, California requires approval with a waiver from the EPA, which has so far not been forthcoming, despite a request having been filed in December 2005.
"Despite the mounting dangers of global warming, the EPA has delayed and ignored California's right to impose stricter environmental standards," Brown told reporters on Thursday.
"We have waited two years and the Supreme Court has ruled in our favor. What is the EPA waiting for?"
Schwarzenegger said there was "no legal basis" for Washington to block California's request, accusing the federal government of "ignoring the will of tens of millions of people."
Analysts say the EPA and the administration of President George W. Bush have dragged their feet over California's demands because of fears of the effect it may have on the struggling US auto industry.
Marc Bernstein, a political scientist at the University of Southern California, said if the California standards came into law, US automakers would be forced to make lower emission cars.
"They're really fighting that," Bernstein told AFP. "The Bush administration is afraid that the US auto industry is going to go under. The companies always claim that jobs are going to be lost."
An EPA spokeswoman said Thursday the agency would make a ruling on the California waiver request by the end of 2007.
"The EPA has repeatedly stated it will make a ruling on this issue before the end of the year," she said, without elaborating.
Brown told a hearing in Washington this year that California's emissions targets were achievable within the stated time-frame.
"There is no doubt that automobile manufacturers can meet that goal, and since the federal government does not want to seek such a reduction California intends to move forward," he said.
Schwarzenegger has made the environment a key issue of his tenure, signing a historic bill in September 2006 that saw the state become the first in the US to impose limits on global warming gases.
Under the plan, California will aim to slash the state's carbon dioxide emissions by 25 percent by the year 2020, a figure that Schwarzenegger has said is equivalent to removing 6.5 million vehicles from the road.
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