Public Nuisance & Emissions

As you’ve likely heard, California sued automakers for creating a public nuisance via emissions.

Point of Law is, unsurprisingly, skeptical: “Because, after all, the California attorney general is the one who should be deciding national policy on the global warming controversy.”

Of course, California has been more restrictive than the federal government for a long time on emissions issues, most recently with the much-touted restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions, but also before (as far back as 1990, the CARB was requiring an increasing percentage of cars to be zero-emissions, and in 1967, California adopted the first-in-the-nation emissions standards).

So it might be new for the AG to be bringing the action — and I go into this skeptical of the claim as well — but he could credibly say that he’s got the policy goals of the state behind him.