California to the rescue

After watching Congress and the president fight against higher fuel efficiency standards, California has taken matters into its own hands. Exploiting a legal loophole that allows the state to set its own emission standards, California will now require automakers to decrease the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by their fleets, including their - gasp! -- SUVs.

California is the only state allowed to set its own standards, the product of a 1960s-era law designed to help control LA's smog. And once California raises its standards, it effectively amounts to a nationwide edict.

Automakers are threatening lawsuits, or a voter initiative. Both would be a PR disaster, and would end in ultimate failure. Just as an industry-backed advertising blitz failed to derail the California law.

Posted July 22, 2002 08:31 AM | Comments (1)