As if it weren’t enough to pass legislation that may cripple the auto industry more, California has decided to global warming lawsuit on Wednesday against Ford Motor Co., General Motors Corp., Toyota Motor Corp. and three other automakers, charging that greenhouse gases from their vehicles have cost the state millions of dollars.
“The lawsuit also names Chrysler Motors Corp., the U.S. arm of Germany's DaimlerChrysler, and the North American units of Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. Ltd.. It also charges that vehicle emissions have contributed significantly to global warming and harmed the resources, infrastructure and environmental health of the most populous state in the United States.”

Who is behind this idea? State Attorney General Bill Lockyer, a Democrat. He claims that millions of vehicles emit massive quantities of carbon dioxide and the automakers are at fault.

I suppose he has forgotten the bill that was just passed that requires the state to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases by 25 percent by 2020. The idea which in principle, seems like a great idea, but may not cut the 25% by 2020 many analysts say. So he is taking matters into his own hands now.

This lawsuit is a waste of taxpayer money. Why would you file suit against the car makers when they just got handed this crazy bill that has so many requirements forcing them to pay money for something that has already been established as a problem and is being worked on? Because the automakers have decided to file suit delaying litigation on the rules California issued to force them to cut tailpipe emissions. Touche’!

I should ask the Attorney General what kind of car he drives? Certainly something befitting a man of his stature in the community, an SUV perhaps? I honestly don’t think he takes a horse to work every day. We all understand the pollution that automobiles and trucks emit regularly, especially here in California, but forcing the auto industry to pay for something they could hardly control at the time is friveless. Auto companies have been working for years on alternative fuels and ways to cut emissions in general such as the hybrid among other ideas still in the planning stages. The cost of which has been staggering.

They are also laying off a bulk of their labor force, asking for early retirement for some, and closing plants left and right. If these types of law suits continue, we may not have much in the way of vehicles to drive. Many reports have declared that it will take many years before we see a significant improvement in emissions from cars and trucks. By singling out the auto makers, instead of other causes, Lockyer is not only making it harder for them to move on these changes, but it costing them millions in legal fees that could be used towards the future of our auto travel. Lockyer would be better suited examining why California has the highest gas prices in the nation while being the 3rd largest oil producer in the country. It does not take an economics degree to notice that Californians are being given the short end of the rope: the law of supply and demand, Californians have more cars, they need more gas, hence the price is higher due to demand. How is the supply too low? You could argue that our price should be lowest due to all of our output in our own state, but alas, that is not the case. More and more oil is being moved out of California to other states depriving California of the supply it needs to satisfy the demand
Maybe Lockyer should work on the oil companies in this state before battling 6 auto makers who are working hard to make a profit so that their workers can make a living and not make their way to the unemployment line.