Free Declaration in Support - District Court of California - California

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Deborah A. Sivas (CA Bar No. 135446) Leah J. Russin (CA Bar No. 225336) Noah Long (Certified Law Student) ENVIRONMENTAL LAW CLINIC Mills Legal Clinic at Stanford Law School Crown Quadrangle 559 Nathan Abbott Way Stanford, CA 94305-8610 Telephone: (650) 725-8571 Facsimile (650) 723-4426 Justin Augustine (CA Bar No. 235561) CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY 1095 Market Street, Suite 511 San Francisco, CA 94103 Phone: (415) 436-9682 Facsimile: (415) 436-9683 Email: [email protected]

Attorneys for Plaintiffs
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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY, a nonprofit organization, Plaintiff, v. THE OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET, Defendant. ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )

Civil Action No. C 07-4997 MHP DECLARATION OF KASSIA SIEGEL IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFF'S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGEMENT Date: Time: Courtroom: Feb. 25, 2008 2:00 p.m. 15, 18th Floor

I, KASSIA SIEGEL, hereby declare and state: 1. I offer this declaration in support of Plaintiff's Motion for Summary Judgment. The

matters set forth herein are based on my personal knowledge, and if called upon to testify, I could and would testify competently as to them. ____________________________________________________________________________________
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2.

I am the Director of the Center for Biological Diversity's Climate, Air, and Energy

Program ("Climate Program"). I have also been a staff attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity ("Center") since December, 2000, and prior to that I was a legal fellow for the organization. I am also a member of the organization and I rely on the Center to represent my interests in all environmental matters, including with regard to global warming. 3. The Center is a non-profit corporation organized under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal

Revenue Code with over 40,000 members and with offices in San Francisco, San Diego, Joshua Tree,
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and Shelter Cove, California; Tucson, Arizona; Portland, Oregon; Silver City, New Mexico; and Washington, D.C. The Center is dedicated to protecting imperiled species and their habitats by combining scientific research, public organizing, and administrative and legal advocacy. 4. Approximately three to four times per month, the Center sends out an electronic

newsletter with recent information and opportunities for engagement in the political process to its members and online activists.

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5.

The Center has a history of active dissemination of information and documents gained

from Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA") requests. For example, the Center learned from one FOIA request that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had improperly conducted its analysis in regard to an Endangered Species Act petition that the Center had submitted. In that instance, the Center analyzed the documents obtained through the FOIA request and then disseminated the information in a press release and on its website, which currently receives approximately 1.5 million "hits" per month. See http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/desert-bald-eagle-05-17-2007.html.

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6.

Similarly, the Center issued a press release, based largely on information obtained

through various FOIA requests, regarding a political appointee's improper actions while working at the Department of Interior. See http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/macdonald-05-222007.html. ____________________________________________________________________________________
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7.

As Director of the Center's Climate Program, it is my job and my responsibility to keep

abreast of the scientific literature and latest findings in the scientific community and to communicate recent findings to our organizations' members. Because the Center is a science-based advocacy organization, my work is informed by close study of the scientific literature related to global warming. I have read scores of reports and articles relating to the detection, attribution, and impacts of global warming, and I review major new works as they become available. I have focused in particular on the impacts of global warming on biodiversity.

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8.

Based on the scientific literature, it is my understanding that just ten more years of

current greenhouse gas emissions trajectories will essentially commit us to climate disaster. Peerreviewed papers and articles by leading climate change scientists (such as Hansen, J., et al. 2005. Earth's energy imbalance: confirmation and implications, Science 308: 1431-1435, and Hansen, J., et al. 2006. Global temperature change. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences published online September 25, 2006) have contributed to my belief that reducing greenhouse gas emissions in

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the next ten years is of the utmost importance. 9. Moreover, based on recent scientific studies and consultation with experts, it is the

Center's view that global warming represents the most significant and pervasive threat to biodiversity worldwide, affecting both terrestrial and marine species from the tropics to the poles, and I believe that global warming poses an overwhelming and extraordinarily urgent threat to human society as well. This belief is based on my understanding of recent scientific literature on the detection, attribution, and prediction of future impacts from climate change.

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10.

The overarching goal of the Center's Climate Program is to protect biological diversity,

public health, and the environment from global warming. In my role as Director of the Climate Program, I am responsible for developing and helping to implement strategies and projects to achieve this goal. I have determined that one of the Climate Program's most important tasks is to help bridge ____________________________________________________________________________________
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the gap in this country between the timely emissions reductions that scientists tell us are essential and the lack of action, particularly at the federal level, to achieve these reductions. 11. I have developed a number of strategies to help bridge this gap. The strategies combine

conservation biology with litigation, policy advocacy, petitioning the government and publicizing important information on science and governmental policy. The Center is working to secure a future for animals and plants hovering on the brink of extinction, for the wilderness they need to survive, and by extension, for the spiritual welfare of generations to come.

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12.

For instance, I was the lead author of the Center's Petition to the Secretary of the Interior

to list the polar bear as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in large part because of the melting of its sea ice habitat. In that capacity, I conducted a particularly thorough review of the literature relating to the impacts of global warming in the Arctic and on the polar bear. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently issued a proposed decision to list the polar bear as threatened in response to this petition.

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13.

I have also conducted an in-depth review of the impacts of global warming on

California, and on species that occur there, such as the American pika. 14. I co-authored a chapter on global warming, biodiversity, and the Endangered Species Act

for an upcoming law school textbook on global warming litigation from Cambridge University Press. I frequently give presentations on the impact of global warming on biodiversity at law conferences and at other venues. 15. In choosing what issues to pursue, the Center prioritizes the reduction of U.S. greenhouse

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gas emissions because the United States is the largest historical source of atmospheric carbon dioxide, ash shown in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") report "Global Greenhouse Gas Data" and because U.S. emissions are growing steadily. See, e.g., http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/globalghg.html. ____________________________________________________________________________________
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16.

EPA, in its inventory of greenhouse gas emissions, noted that transportation accounts for

roughly a third of U.S. climate change emissions. See EPA, US Greenhouse Gas Invetory Reports, Energy (p. 8): http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/downloads06/07Energy.pdf. Accordingly, I believe it is important for the Center's Climate Program to focus some of its advocacy and education resources on increasing public awareness about the global warming impacts of the transportation sector and on pressing government agencies with decision authority over the transportation sector to better consider the climate change implications of their decisions.

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17.

Given the significant contribution of transportation sources to greenhouse gas emissions,

and thus to the worsening global warming crisis, last year the Center challenged the Corporate Average Fuel Economy ("CAFE") standards for light trucks, promulgated by the National Traffic Highway Safety Administration ("NHTSA") within the U.S. Department of Transportation ("DOT") and published in the Federal Register on April 6, 2006, in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, arguing that DOT did not adequately take greenhouse gas emissions and global warming into account. The rule

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regulates fuel economy from SUVs, minivans, and other light trucks, which now account for roughly half of all new cars sold. 18. The Environmental Impact Assessment published by DOT shows (on page 27) that the

new standards allowed for continued increases in greenhouse gas emissions from SUVs. See http:// www.nhtsa.dot.gov/staticfiles/DOT/NHTSA/Rulemaking/Rules/Associated%20Files/2006_EA.pdf. I reviewed this document carefully during the public comment period and for purposes of the subsequent litigation.

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19.

The April 6, 2006 CAFE rule was based on a cost-benefit analysis which assumed that

the cost of greenhouse gas emissions was zero. Over 45,000 comments were submitted by individuals, numerous state governments and environmental organizations (including the Center) on the draft regulation. Many of these comments, including the Center's. noted that the cost of greenhouse gas ____________________________________________________________________________________
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emissions is, in fact, high and increasing. The comments supported higher standards that would utilize the best available technology to minimize greenhouse gas emissions. The comments are available as DOT electronic docket number 2005-22223 and 2006-24309. The dockets did not include internal documents, notes, letters and information related to the rulemaking. 20. 21. DOT dismissed these comments and published the final rule without adjustment. Defendant Office of Budget and Management ("OMB") was closely involved in the

setting of fuel economy standards with DOT. OMB's Mission Statement states that: "OMB ensures that
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agency reports, rules, testimony, and proposed legislation are consistent with the... Administration policies." See http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/organization/role.html. Moreover, a 2003 General Accounting Office ("GAO") report analyzing OMB's impact on agency decisionmaking found that a significant number of rules were influenced by OMB. NHTSA was specifically called out and cited as an example of an agency where OMB has particularly influential in agency decisions, particular those decisions where cost-benefit analysis is a central element. The GAO report is available at:

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http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d03929.pdf. 22. Fuel economy standards are a matter of national importance, as highlighted by President

Bush's mention of them in his 2007 State of the Union speech, and as evidenced by the fact that eleven states, the District of Columbia, and several other national environmental organizations joined the Center in challenging the new CAFE rules for light trucks. 23. The light truck CAFE standards, and the subsequent judicial challenge to them, have

received considerable media attention. For instance, on April 7, 2007, the San Francisco Chronicle
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published an article by Bob Egeko entitled "New fuel standards for trucks challenged: Environmental group sues, says rules will add to warming." A true and correct copy of that article is attached as Exhibit 1. Similarly, the Associated Press published an article on the same day by Tim Molloy, entitled "Environmental group seeks review of new government mileage rules." A true and correct copy of that ____________________________________________________________________________________
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article is attached as Exhibit 2. The Greenwire service also published an article entitled "Enviros file challenge to CAFE standards" on the same day. A true and correct copy of that article is attached as Exhibit 3. 24. The national significance of fuel economy standards is also evidenced by the fact that

Congress has also taken up the issue. Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi recently commented that she will attempt to address fuel economy standards in this session. See http://www.speaker.gov/newsroom/pressreleases?id=0271.

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25.

In the last few months, the importance of the fuel economy standards and how they are

determined once again came to light. On November 15, 2007, the Ninth Circuit ruled on the Center's challenge, finding that the standards as set were illegal because the agency failed to consider global warming. The court noted that one of the agency's errors was contained in the cost benefit analysis, which failed to consider the cost of greenhouse gas emissions. Shortly thereafter, Congress took up the issue and set new average fuel economy standards of 35 miles per gallon that all manufacturers must

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meet by 2020. 26. The Ninth Circuit's decision was also covered widely in the media. For instance, the

New York Times published an article entitled "Court rejects fuel standards on trucks," by Felicity Barringer and Micheline Maynard on November 16, 2007. A true and correct copy of that article is attached as Exhibit 4. 27. We plan to use the information from the request at issue in this case to disseminate

information through our newsletters and in other ways and to generate comments and further press
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coverage of this important national issue. I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct to the best of my knowledge, information, and belief.

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Executed at San Francisco, California on January 24 2008.

/s/ Kassia R. Siegel_____ Kassia R. Siegel I, Deborah Sivas, pursuant to ECF General Order 45X.B, attest that Kassia R. Siegel has concurred in and authorized the filing of this declaration with this court. /s/ Deborah A. Sivas Deborah A. Sivas Attorney for Plaintiffs

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EXHIBIT LIST

Exhibit 1. Egelko, Bob. "New fuel standards for trucks challenged: Environmental group sues, says rules will add to warming." San Francisco Chronicle, published on 4/7/2007. Exhibit 2. Molloy, Tim. "Environmental group seeks review of new government mileage rules." Associated Press, published on 4/7/2007. Exhibit 3. "Enviros file challenge to CAFE standards." Greenwire, Vol. 10 (9), published 4/7/2007. Exhibit 4. Felicity Barringer and Micheline Maynard , "Court rejects fuel standards on trucks," New

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York Times, published on 11/16/07.

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Exhibit 1

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Copyright 2006 The Chronicle Publishing Co. All Rights Reserved

THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE (California) April 7, 2006 Friday FINAL Edition SECTION: NEWS; Pg. A12 LENGTH: 512 words HEADLINE: New fuel standards for trucks challenged; Environmental group sues, says rules will add to warming BYLINE: Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer BODY: An environmental group challenged the Bush administration's new fuel economy standards for light trucks in federal court Thursday, saying the new requirements were not stringent enough and would only worsen global warming and the nation's oil addiction. The Center for Biological Diversity asked the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco to review the legality of the rules announced last week by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for sport utility vehicles and other light trucks from 2008 through 2011. The standard now requires the vehicles to achieve 21.6 mpg and is scheduled to rise to 22.2 mpg for 2007 models; under the new criteria, the requirement in 2011 would be 24.1 mpg. Both Transportation Secretary Norm Mineta and the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers described the new standards as tough and challenging for the auto industry. But the environmental group said the government is flouting a 1975 law that requires fuel economy standards to be set at the "maximum feasible level.'' "The fuel efficiency increases are minuscule compared to what is possible with existing technology and the major reforms urgently needed to cut air pollution, combat global climate change and save money at the gas pump,'' said Peter Galvin, conservation director of the organization headquartered in Tucson. A 38 mpg benchmark can be readily achieved by 2015, the organization said. It said the government, in its justification of the standards, had failed to mention the environmental impact of its decision to propose only a small increase in fuel economy. Deborah Sivas, lawyer for the Center for Biological Diversity, said the government merely declared that its new standard would cause no environmental harm because it represents an increase in fuel efficiency over the current standard. She contended federal law requires the government to consider a reasonable range of alternatives, including technologically achievable miles-per-gallon requirements, and discuss the environmental consequences of choosing a lesser standard.

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Page 2 New fuel standards for trucks challenged; Environmental group sues, says rules will add to warming THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE (California) April 7, 2006 Friday "We can't really have an informed public debate when that whole part of the discussion is truncated,'' Sivas said. In comments submitted to the federal agency while it was considering the standards, the environmental group attacked the proposal on multiple grounds, including the lack of any discussion of its impact on global warming and the government's assumption that gasoline would cost between $1.51 and $1.58 per gallon from 2008 through 2011. As a result, the government seriously underestimated the benefits of greater fuel economy, the group said. California's Attorney General Bill Lockyer has also attacked the new federal standards, in part because the Bush administration declared that California lacked authority to regulate motor vehicles' emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Lockyer, who is defending California's first-in-the-nation law on greenhouse gases in a suit by automakers, has not yet decided whether to challenge the federal rules in court, said spokesman Tom Dresslar. LOAD-DATE: April 7, 2006

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Exhibit 2

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4/7/06 APALERTCA 02:14:34

FOR EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY

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4/7/06 AP Alert - CA 02:14:34 AP Alert - California Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. April 7, 2006 Environmental group seeks review of new government mileage rules By TIM MOLLOY Associated Press Writer LOS ANGELES_An environmental group asked for a court review Thursday of tighter gas mileage rules for pickups and sport utility vehicles that many conservationists said do not go far enough in limiting greenhouse gas emissions. The federal government set the new standards last week in response to rising concern about the supply and cost of energy from abroad. The rules , covering 2008 through 2011, would save 10.7 billion gallons of fuel over the lifetime of the vehicles sold during that period, officials said. The Tucson, Ariz.-based Center for Biological Diversity filed a one-page petition Thursday asking the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to review the decision. Deborah Sivas, director of Stanford University's Environmental Law Clinic, which is representing the center, said the government did not adequately consider whether tighter standards would have been a greater boon for the environment. She also said the new rules would not adequately protect endangered species. The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, which released the new rules last week, had no comment on the pending litigation. But agency spokesman Ray Tyson said they were first submitted for public comment in September. "It was a very transparent process," he said. "We allowed anyone to comment who wanted to. We took those comments into consideration." The new regulations followed President Bush's declaration in January that the U.S. is "addicted to oil," and his call for a 75 percent reduction in Mideast oil imports by 2025. Manufacturers will begin implementing the rules as average gas prices exceed $2.50 a gallon and many consumers are seeking more fuel-efficient vehicles such as hybrids and flexible-fuel pickups and SUVs. Federal officials said the plan was devised with the environment, jobs and costs in mind at a time when U.S. automakers, notably General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co., have outlined plans to reduce their work force to deal with shrinking market share, higher costs for labor and raw materials and intense competition

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from Asian competitors. ___ On the Net: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration: http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/ ---- INDEX REFERENCES ---COMPANY: GENERAL MOTORS CORP; FORD MOTOR CO NEWS SUBJECT: (Legal (1LE33))

INDUSTRY: (Energy Industry Environmental Issues (1EN22); Environmental (1EN24); Nature & Wildlife (1NA75)) REGION: Language: (USA (1US73); Americas (1AM92); North America (1NO39)) EN

OTHER INDEXING: (CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY; ENVIRONMENTAL LAW CLINIC; FORD MOTOR CO; GENERAL MOTORS CORP; NATIONAL HIGHWAY TRAFFIC SAFETY ADMINISTRATION; NATIONAL HIGHWAY TRANSPORTATION SAFETY ADMINISTRATION; STANFORD UNIVERSITY; US CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS) (Bush; Deborah Sivas; Ray Tyson) (United States; USA; NorthAmerica) KEYWORDS: (n); (3300); (Environment); (Energy); (Automotive); (Financial); (Business); (Labor); (Legal); (Law) COMPANY TERMS: GENERAL MOTORS CORP; FORD MOTOR CO TICKER SYMBOL: GM; F Word Count: 432 4/7/06 APALERTCA 02:14:34 END OF DOCUMENT

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Exhibit 3

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Copyright 2006 Environment and Energy Publishing, LLC Greenwire April 7, 2006 Friday SECTION: SPOTLIGHT Vol. 10 No. 9 LENGTH: 521 words HEADLINE: AUTOS: Enviros file challenge to CAFE standards BODY: The Center for Biological Diversity filed a petition yesterday asking the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to review the new federal gas mileage standards for light trucks and sport utility vehicles, saying they do not go far enough in limiting emissions and will not adequately protect endangered species (Tim Molloy, AP/San Jose Mercury News, April 6). Announced last week, the new standard for light trucks will be 22.2 miles per gallon, up from 21.6 mpg for the current model year. The current standard for passenger cars is 27.5 mpg. SUVs, vans and pickup trucks -- those weighing between 8,500 and 10,000 pounds -- have been exempt from fuel-economy rules since they were established in the 1970s. The administration estimated that requiring these heavier vehicles to improve their mileage would save half a billion gallons of fuel in 2011 and would cost manufacturers between $900 and $2,800 per vehicle. The rules will cover 2008 through 2011. Experts said they could not predict the average number of miles per gallon that light trucks would be able to achieve (Greenwire, March 29). Consumers cooling on hybrids Automakers are increasing financial incentives for hybrid vehicles in response to a slowdown in consumer enthusiasm. Ford Motor Co. announced it will offer zero percent financing for up to five years on its Escape hybrid SUV through July 5, and Toyota offered 3.9 percent financing for its Highlander SUV. It recently cut Highlander hybrid production by more than a third to match output with demand. And Honda sold 69 percent fewer Accord hybrids in March than it did in March 2005, a total of 581 cars, according to statistics from Green Congress. The cooldown may be due to a Consumer Reports study that said only two of six hybrid models -- the Toyota Prius and Honda Civic -- made up for their initial higher price after five years and 75,000 miles. Premiums on most hybrids are $3,000 to $5,000 over regular vehicles (Stoll/Chon, Wall Street Journal [subscription required], April 7). Thermal conversion process could turn old cars into biofuel A new heat technology could turn old car parts into biofuel, according to a U.S. Council for Automotive Research study released this week at the Society of Engineers World Congress in Detroit. The thermal conversion process has successfully turned turkey bones and other animal offal into biofuel at a plant in Carthage, Mo. Changing World Technologies Inc. was able to turn 64 percent of the recycled material into oil, said General Motors scientist Candace Wheeler. The process entailed liquefying the material, heating it to nearly 600 degrees and then skimming oil from the water. Starting last year, new cars had to be 85 percent recyclable, but 5 percent of it could be from recovered energy. The threshold becomes 95 percent in 2012. USCAR members DaimlerChrysler, Ford, GM and other private and public partners will vote today on whether to conduct a more intensive study. About 15 million vehicles are scrapped every year in the United States, producing about 8 billion pounds of trash for landfills (David Shepardson, Detroit News, April 7). -- DK LOAD-DATE: April 10, 2006

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Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company The New York Times November 16, 2007 Friday Late Edition - Final SECTION: Section A; Column 0; Business/Financial Desk; Pg. 1 LENGTH: 1156 words HEADLINE: U.S. COURT VOIDS FUEL STANDARDS FOR SOME TRUCKS BYLINE: By FELICITY BARRINGER and MICHELINE MAYNARD; Felicity Barringer reported from San Francisco and Micheline Maynard from Detroit. DATELINE: SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 15 BODY: A federal appeals court here rejected the Bush administration's year-old fuel-economy standards for light trucks and sport utility vehicles on Thursday, saying that they were not tough enough because regulators had failed to thoroughly assess the economic impact of tailpipe emissions that contribute to climate change. A 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. The court, siding with 4 environmental groups and 13 states and cities, also asked the government to explain why it still treated light trucks -- which include pickups, sport utility vehicles and minivans -- more mildly than passenger cars. Under the rejected rule, the average fuel economy of light trucks was to rise to 23.5 miles a gallon in 2010, up from the current standard of 22.5 m.p.g., but still well below the current standard for passenger cars of 27.5 m.p.g. The ruling, which is likely to be appealed to the United States Supreme Court, represents a major setback for both the auto industry and the White House at a time of growing public concern over the rising price of gasoline and the issue of climate change. Lawyers specializing in environmental issues said on Thursday that the decision had significant implications beyond the automobile industry's struggles over fuel-economy standards. It was the third federal court ruling in seven months pressing regulators to take the risk of climate change into consideration as they set standards for industries that emit carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases produced when oil, coal and natural gas are burned to produce energy. ''What this says to me is that the courts are catching up with climate change and the law is catching up with climate change,'' said Patrick A. Parenteau, an environmental law professor at Vermont Law School. ''Climate change has ushered in a whole new era of judicial review.''

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Page 2 U.S. COURT VOIDS FUEL STANDARDS FOR SOME TRUCKS The New York Times November 16, 2007 Friday

In each case, starting with the Supreme Court's 5-to-4 ruling this year that the Environmental Protection Agency can regulate heat-trapping emissions, courts have found that federal officials must either grapple with the consequences of climate change or explain why they chose not to. In the latest decision, Judge Betty B. Fletcher wrote that the ''impact of greenhouse gas emissions on climate change is precisely the kind of cumulative-impacts analysis'' required under the National Environmental Policy Act. While the federal government may use a cost-benefit analysis to determine the ''maximum feasible'' fuel-economy standard, she added, ''it cannot put a thumb on the scale by undervaluing the benefits and overvaluing the costs of more stringent standards.'' The appeals court, in a decision that was unanimous on all the major points, also chided the Bush administration for exempting larger S.U.V.'s -- those like the Ford Excursion and the Hummer H2 that weigh 8,500 pounds to 10,000 pounds -- from any fuel-economy standards. Among the environmental groups bringing the case were the Center for Biological Diversity and the Natural Resources Defense Council. ''This is another major rebuke of the Bush administration's policy of ignoring global warming,'' said Aaron Colangelo, a lawyer with the N.R.D.C. Kieran Suckling, policy director of the Center for Biological Diversity, called the decision ''a seismic change moment in terms of environmental regulation of all kinds in this country.'' The ruling came after a decision two months ago by a federal judge in Vermont who rejected industry arguments that states like California, Vermont and New York were improperly usurping a federal prerogative when they set out to regulate tailpipe emissions of carbon dioxide. The judge also ruled against the industry's argument that it was not feasible to comply with the state standards. The decision comes at a time when American auto companies, in particular, have been trying to paint themselves as more environmentally conscious and interested in developing more fuel-efficient vehicles. At this week's auto show in Los Angeles, for example, several automakers introduced a number of new hybrid-electric car and trucks. But Detroit and some foreign automakers have continued to lobby against the most stringent Congressional proposals to raise fuel-economy standards, supporting more modest proposals instead. ''Automakers support aggressive fuel-economy increases that would raise the standards for all vehicles to as much as 35 miles per gallon by 2022,'' Dave McCurdy, president of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, said in a statement. At the same time, he said, the standards should seek ''a good balance of safety, higher fuel economy and jobs benefits for all Americans.'' The Bush administration has called for an increase in fuel economy that would require fuel efficiency to rise about one mile a gallon a year for the next few years. Fuel standards have recently been raised in Europe and Japan, and China has imposed its first standards. Congress is debating several proposals for tougher auto-mileage standards and is beginning to address the broader question of setting a nationwide cap on the overall level of carbon dioxide and other global-warming emissions. As for the latest court ruling, Charles Miller, a spokesman for the Justice Department, said: ''We're in the process of reviewing the decision and we will consider all of our options'' -- among them is appealing the case to the Supreme Court. Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. of California, a state that has been in the forefront of regulating

Case 3:07-cv-04997-MHP

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Page 3 U.S. COURT VOIDS FUEL STANDARDS FOR SOME TRUCKS The New York Times November 16, 2007 Friday

greenhouse gases, called the decision a ''major victory'' and ''a stunning rebuke'' to the Bush administration. He added that it signaled to Congress that it ''must get serious about automobile efficiency and combating dangerous foreign oil dependency and global warming.'' When the fuel-economy rules were introduced 19 months ago by Norman Y. Mineta, the transportation secretary then, they were estimated to cost auto manufacturers $6.7 billion and to add about $200 to the cost of the average vehicle. Environmentalists quickly attacked the rules, saying the industry could achieve far higher standards economically and technologically. That was at the core of the environmentalists' court challenge, accompanied by arguments that there was no clear explanation for treating light trucks differently from passenger cars and that bigger trucks should not be exempted from the federal standards. ''The need of the nation to conserve energy is even more pressing today'' than when the original fuel-economy law was enacted, Judge Fletcher wrote. ''What was a reasonable balancing of competing statutory priorities 20 years ago may not be a reasonable balancing of those priorities today.'' URL: http://www.nytimes.com LOAD-DATE: November 16, 2007