State joins suit against EPA over emissions

Washington joined California and 14 other states Wednesday in suing the federal government for failing to approve stronger regulations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks.

Last month, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen Johnson rejected California's request to tighten rules for vehicle exhaust. California is the only state allowed to set air pollution rules stricter than federal guidelines, and they require approval of the EPA. Other states may adopt California or federal rules. Washington adopted California's.

Without the stricter standards, Washington officials said, the state would have a difficult time meeting goals for cutting releases of carbon dioxide. About half of the state's greenhouse gas emissions come from transportation.

The tighter rules would apply to new vehicles beginning with the 2009 models, which go on sale starting this year. The EPA waited two years before denying California's request -- the first denial issued in 40 years.

Johnson's decision overruled a consensus among EPA's legal and technical staff that denying California's waiver was unlikely to stand up in court, according to government officials familiar with the decision.

The suit was filed by California in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Other states intervening along with Washington are Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont.

Johnson said energy legislation signed shortly before Christmas by President Bush will raise fuel economy standards to an average of 35 miles per gallon by 2020, which he called a far more effective approach to reducing greenhouse gases than a patchwork of state regulations.

California's more aggressive law would have required the auto industry to cut emissions by one-third in new vehicles by 2016, boosting efficiency to about 36.8 mpg.

Five environmental groups also filed a suit Wednesday against the EPA in the same court over the issue.

"While global warming marches onward, EPA continues to drag its feet," Jim Tripp, general counsel of Environmental Defense, one of the groups filing suit, said in an e-mail. "The agency's decision defies the law, the science and the will of states representing nearly half of the U.S. population."