Terminator to Sue Decider

The EPA's decision to forbid 17 states to enact tougher carbon dioxide emission standards in an effort to curb global warming will indeed have, as Political Machine's Mark Impomeni put it, "repercussions in the next session of Congress." The move to deny states to the right to set tighter limits on tail pipe pollution will also face legal challenges, as California's Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has made clear. From CNN:

"It is just another example of the administration's failure to treat global warming with the seriousness it actually demands," the governor said at a news conference Thursday.

California won't be alone in the lawsuit against the federal government. So far, 14 of the 17 states plan to join California's suit Florida's Charlie Crist is considering a separate lawsuit on behalf of the Sunshine State's residents.

"We think states have rights," Crist said in an interview Thursday, "and if we want to, we should have the ability to take the lead on climate change."

For now, Bush has succeeded in protecting the auto industry. Should these court challenges make it to the Supreme Court, however, the outcome might prove different. If not for the court's ruling ordering the Bush Administration to make the EPA do its job, there's no doubt that we wouldn't even have a watered-down energy bill.

As far as the political ramifications of this face-off, Schwarzenegger perhaps put it best:

"It is disappointing that the federal government is standing in our way and ignoring the will of tens of millions of people across the nation."