Sorry for the drive-by but this is very big news released after hours by the EPA in an attempt to bury it.
The Bush administration said late on Wednesday it would deny California's application to set a strict vehicle emissions standard to fight global warming.
"It is my intent to deny the waiver," Stephen Johnson, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), said in a conference call with reporters.
Reuters
Here's some of the AP version...
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today denied Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's request to allow California to impose a stricter auto emission standard to fight global warming.
California first requested a waiver in 2005 but the EPA did not respond. Last month, California Attorney General Jerry Brown sued the EPA over its delay in making a decision.
During the two-year wait, Schwarzenegger has rallied support and agreement with 16 other states who also want to impose the stricter California standard that state officials say could cut emissions from vehicles 30 percent by 2016.
The state could file another suit contesting the decision or try to push Congress into overriding the EPA decision with support from California's Democratic Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and lawmakers from the other 16 states.
AP
Meet the Real GOP. It's always about State's Rights, until a state wants to do something like save the environment or legalize medicine for cancer patients.
Sickening stuff.
What a bunch of jerks.