The Morning Brief: The Fuel-Efficiency Drive Gains More Momentum
The Wall Street Journal Online</br></br>The Morning Brief, a look at the day's biggest news, is emailed to subscribers by 7 a.m. every business day. Sign up for the e-mail here.</br></br>All in one day, oil prices reached a new record, car makers at the Frankfurt auto show jostled to display their most fuel-efficient models, and a federal judge in Vermont endorsed for the first time new state rules that would reduce emissions -- and, by extension, increase fuel efficiency -- in cars on American roads.</br></br>GM, DaimlerChrysler, the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers and a group of Vermont car dealers had banded together to sue that state over rules that would require a 30% reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions from cars and light trucks by 2016. The group argued that the rules would force them to redesign their vehicles, which would drive up car prices and drive down sales. Lawyers have pointed out that the industry must "take into account safety, performance and cargo space in combination with improvements in fuel economy," as the Washington Post writes. Alan Weverstad, executive director of environment and energy for GM, told the court that compliance would cost his company $25 billion, and by 2016 it would still be seven miles-per-gallon short of the 43 mpg target, the Detroit News reports. However, an expert for Vermont contended the new rules would add $1,500 to the cost of a vehicle -- far less than the auto makers' estimate of as much as $6,000. Judge William Sessions rejected a host of industry arguments, including that the rules would limit consumer choice, create economic hardship for car makers, increase unemployment, undermine safety, and allow states to usurp federal authority, as the New York Times reports. "It is improbable," he wrote, according to the Times, "that an industry that prides itself on its modernity, flexibility and innovativeness will be unable to meet the requirements of the regulation, especially with the range of technological possibilities and alternatives currently before it."</br></br>Vermont's rules, like those adopted by 12 other states, are a copy of California's, and altogether about a third of the nation's auto market is at issue, The Wall Street Journal reports. "California has special dispensation under federal law to enact emissions rules that are tougher than the federal government's, a nod to California's record of dirty air," the Journal writes, adding that other states can replicate California's standards. As Vermont's effort is an extension of California's, and California is waiting for its latest federal waiver, the Vermont court decision could still be rendered irrelevant. "Congress has essentially designated California as a proving ground for innovation in emissions control regulations," Judge Sessions wrote, according to the Sacramento Bee. "History suggests that the ingenuity of the (auto) industry, once put in gear, responds admirably to most technological challenges." The Detroit Free Press writes that "the industry's best hope for stopping the rules lies with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency," but the paper notes that the EPA has never turned down California's request for a waiver to enact emissions rules -- and California has said it will sue the EPA if it does.