Download Court Documents and Other Information About Other States

• March 22, 2007 – Trial begins in the automakers’ challenge to Vermont’s Clean Cars Law. In February, Judge William Sessions refused to delay the trial pending the outcome of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Mass v. EPA, even though the judge in the California case has delayed that trial pending the high court’s decision. Some relevant documents:
  
  
• January 25, 2007 – State of Vermont and environmental intervenors’ motion to stay the case pending U.S. Supreme Court decision in Mass. v. EPA
  
  
• January 16, 2007 – Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers’ response to Defendants’ request for Judgment on the Pleadings
  
  
• January 16, 2007 – Association of International Automobile Manufacturers’ response to Defendants’ request for Judgment on the Pleadings
  
  
• January 16, 2007 – State of Vermont and environmental intervenors’ response to AIAM motion for summary judgment
  
  
• November 13, 2006 – State of Vermont and environmental intervenors’ motion for Judgment on the Pleadings (part 1)
  
  
• November 13, 2006 – State of Vermont and environmental intervenors’ motion for Judgment on the Pleadings (part 2)
  
  
• November 13, 2006 – Association of International Automobile Manufacturers motion for summary judgment
  
  
• June 26, 2006 – The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to take up the issue of global warming—over the objection of the Bush administration. The court this fall will consider the question of whether CO2 is an air pollutant, subject to regulation by the Clean Air Act. The U.S. EPA and Bush administration in 2003 rejected a petition by environmentalists to regulate CO2. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld the administration position in 2005. The Supreme Court will now consider the case, which has significant implications for California and the 10 other states that have adopted California’s vehicle global warming standards.
  
  
• June 22, 2006 – Oregon Environmental Quality Commission votes to adopt that state’s Clean Cars program.
  
  
• March 23, 2006 – An Oregon judge upholds the governor’s right to veto policy language that had been tucked into an appropriations bill. Read the ruling.
  
  More background: Oregon legislators had tucked a provision into the budget for the Department of Environmental Quality prohibiting DEQ and the Environmental Quality Commission from adopting California vehicle emission standards. The governor used his item-veto authority to strike that section of the budget bill. The automakers and three state legislators sued the state, challenging the constitutionality of the governor’s veto. Since the Constitution says that the governor may veto “single items in appropriations bills,” the judge ruled that the governor was correct in vetoing this particular item.
  
  
• After filing lawsuits in California and New York, the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers is now picking on three of the smallest Northeastern states that have adopted California’s clean vehicle standards. The AAM is joined by its international sister organization, the Alliance of International Automobile Manufacturers (AIAM), in Rhode Island and Vermont.
  
  February 13, 2006 – Rhode Island, U.S. District Court: AAM complaint, AIAM complaint.
  December 29, 2005 – Maine Superior Court. The complaint alleges procedural violations under state law and simultaneously moves for a stay and remand.
  November 18, 2005 – Vermont - U.S. District Court: AAM complaint, AIAM complaint.
  August 12, 2005 - New York State Court.
  
  
• May 20, 2006 – Automakers drop their lawsuit against the State of New York’s vehicle global warming regulation. The suit had been filed in state court. The move is seen as a tactical shift in the automakers’ strategy to focus their legal attack in federal courts.
  
  
• May 3, 2006 – Federal judge in Vermont grants environmentalists’ motion to intervene in defense of Vermont’s vehicle global warming pollution standards, and denies the state’s request to stay the case in Vermont pending the outcome of the California litigation.
  
  
• September 9, 2005 – The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers filed suit against two Oregon state agencies. The lawsuit seeks to block the adoption of California-style emissions standards aimed at reducing Oregon’s global warming pollution. The industry group was joined by Oregon car dealers and state representatives. Read the Plaintiff’s complaint and the OSPIRG News release.