California Sues Automakers over Global Warming

These are the kind of stories I hate. What California has done with this lawsuit is to combine three things that I hate into one event: 1) Use of unproved science in policy decisions; 2) Waste of public resources in pursuing a junk lawsuit; and 3) Choosing unwise environmental policy decisions to discourage businesses from operating locally and hurting economic growth. Now, if California had chosen to pursue the carmakers for not curbing tailpipe emissions on SUV's and increasing smog, because these vehicles were designated as light trucks, when they were, in reality, just big cars, I could get behind that. But to hold carmakers liable for global warming because of greenhouse gas emissions is disgustingly cynical, political, and stupid.

First, the carmakers had no emissions standards to guide them, so prosecuting them civilly for an unknown standard does not pass the sniff test. Second, their are no studies to show that the contribution of carbon dioxide by cars in California actually increased the temperature only in our state. Atmospheric gases affect the entire planet, with some regions more succeptible to the climate change, not just the emissions in some local region. So this lawsuit also shows a fundamental ignorance on how climate change models work in relation to anthropogenic greenhouse gas increases. If anthropogenic global warming is correct, tailpipe emissions in China would affect California too, but the lawsuit is not going after automakers there. Third, greenhouse gas emissions mainly come from power plant generation from coal, oil, and natural gas. Car emissions are nowhere near any large minority of the total.

The carmakers are right to call this a nuisance suit, and this case will get dismissed, with prejudice, at the federal level, just as a case in New York was. Meanwhile, California wastes money on the legal proceedings. Disgusting.

 

Update: This report from the AFP gives a good rundown on the challenges the lawsuit faces.