This is the sort of thing our Attorney General thinks is worth fighting for.
Expanding on the push-and-pull between Washington and Texas on environmental regulation, the state’s attorney general has called federal regulations meant to cut greenhouse gases from auto tailpipe emissions unlawful.
The federal government is pushing “hastily enacted, cascading regulations” on states and businesses, Attorney General Greg Abbott argued in a brief filed Friday on behalf of nine states in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Other states signing on to the brief are Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota and Virginia.
The tailpipe emission rules, written by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Transportation, require automakers to improve fleetwide fuel economy and reduce fleetwide greenhouse gas emissions approximately 5 percent every year , starting with 2012 model year vehicles .
Federal officials have said that the rules will cut foreign oil use and that lower emissions will cut consumers’ costs at the gas pump.
The rules will save consumers $3,000 over a vehicle’s lifetime because it will get better gas mileage, according to EPA spokesman Brendan Gilfillan .
The tailpipe rules are among six greenhouse gas-related regulations Texas is challenging.
The underlying argument by Texas: The fundamental finding that greenhouse gases are a public health threat is scientifically flawed.
I got nothing. I don’t understand this worldview at all.
It’s partly the head-in-the-sand reflex lately being built into conservative politics (“I can’t be held responsible/Don’t tell me what to do”) and part demagoguery. They don’t want to be seen to agree with the “left” on ANY single thing if possible, even if it they would agree if it were somehow a de-politicized issue. You’ll notice the same cognitive friction when it comes to religion. They don’t want to grant common ground to christian leftists, so they accuse them of being secret muslims, or “bad” christians, etc.