Jan, 15, 2004
WASHINGTON, D.C. –
A former Solicitor General of the United States today urged the nation’s Supreme
Court to reject arguments by industry and the Bush administration that seek to
invalidate Southern California’s innovative clean fleet rules.
“We have asked the Supreme
Court to uphold the decisions of both lower courts and allow the South Coast Air
Quality Management District to continue its landmark regulations for replacing
dirty diesel vehicles with clean-fuel models,” said Seth P. Waxman, U.S.
Solicitor General under President Clinton and a partner with Wilmer, Cutler &
Pickering in Washington, D.C.
Waxman represents AQMD --
Southern California’s clean air agency -- which is the defendant in a case
brought by the Engine Manufacturers Association and the Western States Petroleum
Association (US Supreme Court case No. 02-1343). Several industry groups and
the Bush administration have filed friend-of-the-court briefs on behalf of the
engine manufacturers, urging the court to overturn the fleet rules. Current
U.S. Solicitor General Theodore B. Olson participated in today’s oral argument.
AQMD’s clean fleet rules,
adopted in 2000 and 2001, include seven measures requiring fleet operators of
transit buses, school buses, trash trucks, airport shuttles and taxis, street
sweepers and heavy-duty utility trucks, to buy clean-fueled models when they
replace vehicles or add to their fleets of 15 or more vehicles. As a result of
the rules, more than 5,500 clean-burning heavy-duty vehicles, powered by natural
gas and other clean fuels, have been added to the region’s fleets. (See fact
sheet for further details.)
“Southern California has
the worst smog in the nation, in part due to diesel emissions from heavy-duty
vehicles,” said Barry Wallerstein, AQMD’s executive officer. “In addition,
diesel emissions are responsible for 70 percent of the cancer risk from air
pollution in the Los Angeles area.”
“Last year, we experienced
our smoggiest summer in more than five years. We need every tool available to
fight air pollution and protect the health of the 16 million residents of
Southern California,” he said.
At issue is whether the
federal Clean Air Act permits local jurisdictions such as AQMD to adopt
regulations that enhance the market for clean-fueled vehicles, without requiring
manufacturers to meet specific mandates such as tailpipe emission standards.
The engine manufacturers
and petroleum association argued in the lower courts and the Supreme Court that
AQMD's fleet rules run afoul of section 209(a) of the Clean Air Act, which
prohibits local jurisdictions from adopting emission standards for new
vehicles. The law reserves to the federal government the authority to set such
standards. The only exception is the authority granted under the Clean Air Act
to the State of California to set stricter automobile emission standards than
those set by the federal government.
AQMD’s clean fleet rules,
however, neither set emission standards nor any production mandate on engine
manufacturers. Instead, they require fleet operators to choose from the
cleanest-fueled models available.
The lower courts affirmed
this when ruling in favor of AQMD. In her decision, Judge Florence-Marie Cooper
of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California stated that
AQMD’s fleet rules “… impose no new emissions requirements on manufacturers
whatsoever, and therefore do not run afoul of Congress’s purpose behind motor
vehicle preemption: namely, the protection of manufacturers against having to
build engines in compliance with a multiplicity of standards.”
Following adoption of the
first six fleet rules, the Engine Manufacturers Association sued AQMD in
district court in August 2000. Plaintiffs appealed to the 9th
Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, which affirmed the lower court’s
decision. Plaintiffs sought review in the Supreme Court of the United States
and the court agreed last year to hear the case.
Five environmental
organizations including the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Sierra
Club have intervened as defendants in the lawsuit in support of AQMD. In
addition, the state of California and 16 other states, along with 20
organizations including the National League of Cities, National Conference of
State Legislatures, National Association of Counties and U.S. Conference of
Mayors, have filed friend-of-the-court briefs supporting AQMD.
AQMD is the air pollution
control agency for Orange County and major portions of Los Angeles, San
Bernardino and Riverside counties.
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