Economics and Government

On Wednesday, the 20th day of September published in newspapers all throughout the United States, California has filed lawsuits against car manufactures. “The lawsuit is the first of its kind; holding six of the world’s largest car manufactures liable for the damages caused by their vehicles’ emissions” states Bill Lockyer, state general attorney. California has just adopted the nation’s first law, which mandates a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Vehicle emissions are the single most rapidly growing source of the carbon emissions contributing to global warming. The state is ready to step up and cut global warming emissions by 25 percent in years too come.

Compensation

The lawsuit seeks monetary damages for past and ongoing contributions to global warming and asks that the companies be held liable for future damages to California. For the other side of this issue, Carbon dioxide is a byproduct of burning gasoline. Car companies say the only way to meet California’s emissions rules is to reduce vehicle fuel consumption. They claim the state is trying to regulate fuel economy, or the number of miles a car can run on a gallon of gas. This is a standard set by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. “As long as the car manufactures are in alliance with the states exhaust emissions, California cannot adequately pin global warming on the car manufactures,” says Teresa Schilling.

A Solution to the problem may lie within another tax. We will just have to watch and see how this turns out in court, and see who is ultimately responsible for contributing to global warming. Is the compensation going to be worth it in the end, or would adding another tax be more of a benefit for states, who are fighting global warming?