States, Too, Can Require Cars to Cut Global Warming Impact

Car maker might have to improve fuel economy as much as 60% by 2016, because states, too, have the authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.

That's the take-home message from a federal court decision handed down yesterday in Vermont, and it adds authority to a landmark Supreme Court decision this spring that established the Environmental Protection Agency's authority to regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant because it is a potent greenhouse gas contributing to global warming.

The ruling could -- if it is not overturned on appeal -- lead the way to new restrictions in at least a dozen states that seek to follow California's trail-blazing 2004 standards on greenhouse gas pollution from vehicles.

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