Court upholds California bid to slash auto emissions
Court Alerts
In a major environmental victory for California and 16 other states, a federal court in Fresno on Wednesday upheld a bid to slash auto emissions to combat global warming, a move fiercely opposed by automakers and the Bush administration.
The fight now shifts to Washington.
A Senate vote might come as soon as today on an energy bill that says cars and trucks must meet a fleet fuel-economy average of 35 miles per gallon by 2020. That's compared with 27.5 mpg for cars and 22.2 mpg for trucks today. The House approved the fuel-mileage increase last week.
Wednesday's ruling that California has the authority to impose greenhouse-gas-emission-related mileage standards on cars and trucks - a plan that would cut emissions from vehicles 30 percent by 2016 - increases pressure on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to give the state a waiver to do that.
The state requested a waiver in late 2005, and California Attorney General Jerry Brown sued the EPA in November over its two-year refusal to say yes or no. The agency has said it will issue a decision on California's waiver by year's end.
Wednesday's 57-page opinion by U.S. District Judge Anthony Ishii follows three other court losses this year by the auto industry and the administration.
Ishii's ruling and a similar decision by a federal judge in Vermont three months ago stem from a major Supreme Court ruling in April that the EPA has authority to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions under the Clean Air Act - and can grant waivers to California to enforce its own regulations.
Related listings
-
Nazi Era Picasso's Prompt Legal Battle
Court Alerts 12/12/2007The Museum of Modern Art and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation asked a court yesterday to declare them the rightful owners of two Picasso paintings that a Jewish scholar claims were the rightful property of a relative persecuted in Nazi Germany. T...
-
Software Vendors Accuse Prestigious Law Firm Of Piracy
Court Alerts 12/11/2007A Philadelphia law practice recently ranked among the nation's top 200 firms has been accused by a software industry group of stealing business applications made by Adobe, Symantec, and other vendors, InformationWeek has learned. In a lawsuit filed l...
-
Bank Robber Blames Gambling and Loan Sharks
Court Alerts 12/07/2007Self-described gambling addict Scott A. Hasenjaeger was hedging his bets when he robbed a Marseilles bank in January -- he said in court this week he was partly hoping to get caught and partly hoping to get away. Either way, a federal judge called in...
Grounds for Divorce in Ohio - Sylkatis Law, LLC
A divorce in Ohio is filed when there is typically “fault” by one of the parties and party not at “fault” seeks to end the marriage. A court in Ohio may grant a divorce for the following reasons:
• Willful absence of the adverse party for one year
• Adultery
• Extreme cruelty
• Fraudulent contract
• Any gross neglect of duty
• Habitual drunkenness
• Imprisonment in a correctional institution at the time of filing the complaint
• Procurement of a divorce outside this state by the other party
Additionally, there are two “no-fault” basis for which a court may grant a divorce:
• When the parties have, without interruption for one year, lived separate and apart without cohabitation
• Incompatibility, unless denied by either party
However, whether or not the the court grants the divorce for “fault” or not, in Ohio the party not at “fault” will not get a bigger slice of the marital property.