« Thursday Gumpagraph | Main | The "Making Sense" Filter »
September 21, 2006
| California Sues Auto Makers Over Global Warming | Economy Environment |
The State of California is suing the big auto makers over the damage caused by global warming. Reuters:
California sued six of the world's largest automakers over global warming on Wednesday, charging that greenhouse gases from their vehicles have caused billions of dollars in damages. The lawsuit is the first of its kind to seek to hold manufacturers liable for the damages caused by their vehicles' emissions, state Attorney General Bill Lockyer said.It comes less than a month after California lawmakers adopted the nation's first global warming law mandating a cut in greenhouse gas emissions.
California has also targeted the auto industry with first-in-the-nation rules adopted in 2004 requiring carmakers to force cuts in tailpipe emissions from cars and trucks.
Automakers, however, have so far blocked those rules with their own legal action — prompting one analyst to say California's lawsuit represents a way for California to pressure car manufacturers to accept the rules. [...]
Environmental groups hailed the lawsuit, saying it represented another weapon for the state as it seeks to curb greenhouse gas emissions and spur the auto industry to build vehicles that pollute less.
"(California) just passed a new law to cut global warming emissions by 25 percent and that's a good start and this lawsuit is a good next step," said Dan Becker, director of the Sierra Club's Global Warming Program. [...]
The lawsuit seeks monetary damages for past and ongoing contributions to global warming and asks that the companies be held liable for future monetary damages to California.
It said California is spending millions to deal with reduced snow pack, beach erosion, ozone pollution and the impact on endangered animals and fish.
"The injuries have caused the people to suffer billions of dollars in damages, including millions of dollars of funds expended to determine the extent, location and nature of future harm and to prepare for and mitigate those harms, and billions of dollars of current harm to the value of flood control infrastructure and natural resources," it said.
The Center for Automotive Research's Cole said it would be tough for the industry to immediately meet demands from some critics and predicted other states would quickly follow suit should California succeed with the legal action. [...]
In the complaint, Lockyer charges that vehicle emissions have contributed significantly to global warming and have harmed the resources, infrastructure and environmental health of the most populous state in the United States. [Emphasis added]
One of capitalism's fatal flaws: it may just be more profitable to destroy the Earth than to save it. Why doesn't an unregulated market solve environmental crises? Because environmental costs are borne by the public, not by the polluters who cause them. If the market is to function constructively, polluters must be made to pay for the damage they cause. Their profits must suffer. That, and that alone, will give them an incentive to stop.
Who knows if a lawsuit like this will have an appreciable effect, but governments and citizen groups have to bring to bear whatever leverage they can. The automakers won't clean up their act until compelled to do so. They're just following the logic of capitalism: maximize short-term profit, grow or die. Even if they wanted, individually, to reduce pollution, they believe they can't afford to do so unless their competitors simultaneously do so as well. In that sense, they may come to crave regulation as a way to save them from themselves.
[Thanks, Charyn — who likes to be known as "Alert reader Charyn"]
Posted by Jonathan at September 21, 2006 07:32 PM
Comments
Hurray California!
Wait a minute though. Has global warming ever been proven in court? Has it been proven in court that human activity leads to global warming? We all know what the scientists say, but this is court. Any lawyer types out there correct me if I'm wrong, but won't California have to prove both of these things? If so, this case will have little to do with automakers and everything to do with global warming. Let's hope California wins!
It's an odd feeling, getting excited over the prospect that global warming might be proven true in court. The good news is that if California does has to prove global warming, and wins, the trickle down effects of this case could extend much farther then the auto industry. This case could be quit the fanfare.
Posted by: Jeff at September 21, 2006 10:23 PM
An article in today's NewScientist.com states that California will have to prove there is a relationship between cars and the effects of global warming.
“I’m not sure that they have enough evidence to connect car manufacturers’ products with the effects of global warming,” says Jay Pendergrass of the Environmental Law Institute, also based in Washington DC.
California faces uphill battle on car emissions
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn10136-california-faces-uphill-battle-on-car-emissions.html
Posted by: Jeff at September 22, 2006 11:56 AM
Utter stupidity.
Posted by: at September 23, 2006 06:36 PM
Really? Care to make a case for yourself? Or are you a person who prefers to anonymously hide behind your computer and make negative, unfounded criticisms.
A five year old can do that.
Posted by: Jeff at September 24, 2006 06:16 PM