A lawsuit brought by the State of California against six vehicle manufacturers has been dismissed by San Francisco-based federal judge.
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The judge said the courts do not have the authority to decide injury lawsuits concerning global warming, according to the New York Times (NYT).
California had accused the six largest vehicle manufacturers in the US – Ford, GM, Chrysler, Toyota, Nissan and Honda – of harming human health and the environment by producing vehicles that contribute to global warming. California claimed that the six companies accounted for more than 20% of harmful carbon dioxide emissions in the United States, and 30% of those in California.
The suit was filed in September 2006 by state attorney general Bill Lockyer. Lockyer was seeking potentially billions of dollars of damage to water supplies, coastline, forests, wildlife and public health.
The dismissal of the case is good news for the vehicle manufacturers who last week lost a case in Vermont that allows individual states to set greenhouse gas emissions limits.
Vermont and 12 other states are planning to introduce limits along the lines of those adopted in California. The same six vehicle manufacturers are challenging the limits in California.
According to the NYT, the judge wrote that, “The adjudication of plaintiff’s claim would require the court to balance the competing interests of reducing global warming emissions and the interests of advancing and preserving economic and industrial development.”
He added that it is the role of government and politics to determine initial policy with regard to global warming, and that any legal decisions taken now could undermine the choices available to them.
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