Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox has filed a brief in California v. EPA, a lawsuit between the federal government and the government of California over whether that state can require stricter CAFE mileage standards than the EPA requires under the Clean Air Act. The brief argues that we need one federal standard for mileage rather than a patchwork of state standards that will be difficult for automakers to meet.
 

“If California and a handful of other states are allowed to dictate environmental policy for the entire country on a state-by-state basis and not a uniform basis, our nation’s economy will become further weakened,” said Cox. “I will not stand by silently while a handful of states try to drown the U.S. auto industry in new regulation.”

But it appears that the Obama administration has other thoughts and may well end up withdrawing from the suit and allowing California to go ahead with their standards.

President Obama will direct federal regulators on Monday to move swiftly on an application by California and 13 other states to set strict automobile emission and fuel efficiency standards, two administration officials said Sunday…

Mr. Obama’s presidential memorandum will order the Environmental Protection Agency to reconsider the Bush administration’s past rejection of the California application. While it stops short of flatly ordering the Bush decision reversed, the agency’s regulators are now widely expected to do so after completing a formal review process.

Under the Clean Air Act, states can issue stricter regulations than the federal government requires, but only if they receive a waiver from the EPA. Under the Bush administration, the EPA refused to grant such a waiver in 2007, resulting in the current lawsuit. Now Obama is ordering the EPA to reconsider that waiver application, which may well moot the lawsuit and allow California to move forward with the regulations.

According to the press release from the AG’s office, current federal standards require that the automakers reach a mileage standard of 35 mpg by the year 2020. California’s standards would push that to 49 mpg by 2020, which is a far more difficult standard to meet.