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Court rejects move to stop Calif clean car program

by Reuters
Friday, 29 April 2011 17:48 GMT

* Opponents said Calif waiver won't stop global warming

* Court said EPA move affected automakers, not car dealers

WASHINGTON, April 29 (Reuters) - A federal appeals court on Friday rejected a challenge to the government's decision to allow California to cut greenhouse gas emissions from new cars sold in the state.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and National Automobile Dealers Association asked an appeals court to review a waiver the Environmental Protection Agency gave California from a federal clean air law to allow the state to implement its own vehicle emissions standards.

The EPA waiver went beyond California as 14 others states eventually adopted the same clean car program.

Automakers agreed not to fight the EPA waiver, which resulted in higher vehicle fuel economy requirements.

However, the two trade groups, acting on behalf of their automobile dealer members, argued it was unreasonable for EPA to give California a waiver for dealing with the world-wide environmental problem of global warming.

The appeal courts said it lacked jurisdiction to decide the lawsuit brought by the two trade groups against the EPA waiver and it dismissed the petition to review the agency's decision.

The court said the Chamber lacked the authority to challenge the waiver because it "has not identified a single member who was or would be injured by EPA's waiver decision."

The court also said the automobile dealers group could not show where any of its members had suffered an "actual injury" from the EPA waiver.

"We will not vacate the waiver decision granting California this enforcement authority simply because the particular petitioners before us lack the requisite personal stake to sustain their challenge," the court said.

The appeals court also noted that California's emissions standard regulates automakers and not automobile dealers.

"This is a major victory for the millions of Americans that are working together to unleash smart policies to break our dependence on oil, save families money at the gas pump and reduce dangerous pollution," said the Environmental Defense Fund.

EPA officials could not immediately be reached for comment. (Reporting by Tom Doggett; Editing by Marguerita Choy)

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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