Mich. Attorney General Urges Judge to Toss Calif. Global Warming Suit
Michigan's attorney general has joined six automakers in asking a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit by California that accuses them of harming human health and the environment by producing vehicles that contribute to global warming.
In a friend-of-the court brief filed last week, Attorney General Mike Cox said the suit should be dismissed because it would require the judge to set a limit on the amount of carbon dioxide vehicles can emit.
"These kinds of determinations are fundamentally political questions that should be addressed by Congress and the executive branch, not the courts,'' Cox said in a statement Friday.
California Attorney General Bill Lockyer filed the suit in Oakland in September against American and Japanese auto companies.
Lockyer claims the automakers are violating public nuisance laws by producing high-emission vehicles and should pay damages for polluting. He says automakers could produce cleaner vehicles, but have chosen to fight instead.
The current suit comes as automakers are wrangling with California over a 2002 law requiring them to cut emissions. That law has since been copied by other states.
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