Court Rejects Fuel Standards on Trucks
The New York Times reported today that a federal appeals court in San Francisco rejected the Bush administration’s year-old fuel economy standards for light trucks and SUV’s.
The Times says the court rejected the standards because they were not tough enough because regulators had failed to thoroughly assess the economic impact of tailpipe emissions that contribute to climate change.
The three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San francisco voided the new regulations for 2008-2011 model year vehicles and told the Transportation Department to produce new rules taking into account the value of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
It seems the courts are now looking at climate change and how current and future regulations contribute to it. As Patrick A. Parenteau, an environmental law professor at Vermont Law School told the Times, “Climate change has ushered in a whole new era of judicial review.”
Should regulators (and the courts) leave light trucks and SUVs alone? If the government were to demand ridiculously high MPG standards on trucks and SUV’s, wouldn’t we lose the utility that drives consumers to purchase them in the first place?
When it comes to mileage standards for light trucks and SUV’s, should it be government regulated or driven by consumer demand?
What are your thoughts?