Adopted by the EarthTeam Youth Coalition meeting on February 6, 2005: Tell Automakers to Drop Lawsuit Against the California Global Warming Law!

When the State of California adopted landmark new regulations requiring reduced global warming emissions from cars and trucks, instead of using their engineers to build the cleaner vehicles and create more jobs, the automakers chose to use their lawyers to sue. Eight other states and Canada are poised to adopt the California standards—meaning that over a quarter of the US auto market, at a minimum, would be cleaned up. But if the automakers' lawsuit succeeds it would outlaw all states from adopting these types of global warming rules for autos. Given the Bush Administration's refusal to participate in any climate change initiatives on the national or international level, the California regulations represent by far the most significant complimentary effort to the Kyoto global warming treaty we can expect out of our nation in the near future.

Please send a letter to the heads of the auto alliances that sued the people of California asking them to use their engineers, not their lawyers, to do their fair share to help stop global warming.

comaffrs@aiam.org : Timothy MacCarthy, Association of International Automobile Manufacturers

fwebber@autoalliance.org: Frederick Webber, Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers

Sample Letter

California's breakthrough regulations on global warming emissions will allow your talented engineers to use cost-effective, off-the-shelf technologies to provide cleaner vehicles in all size classes. But instead, you have chosen to unleash your lawyers to thwart consumer choice and ignore the potential profits and jobs from the growing clean car market.

It is time for you to live up to the promise of your environmental marketing campaigns. "Green" slogans and the limited introduction of hybrid vehicles cannot replace a fleet-wide commitment to cleaner vehicles. It is not too late to step away from this public relations disaster and invest these resources in your talented engineers to meet the burgeoning national and international demand for cleaner vehicles in all makes and sizes.

Carbon dioxide from passenger vehicles will increase 50 percent by 2020 if you and other automakers don't clean up our nation's vehicle fleets. It is environmentally and financially irresponsible to postpone action. I expect your immediate withdrawal from this anti-consumer lawsuit that damages both the environment and the public's health.

For more information, or to write a letter to the editor, see the Union of Concerned Scientists "Automakers v. The People" campaign at http://www.ucsusa.org/general/special_features/page.cfm?pageID:=:1534

The above information was provided by the Union of Concerned Scientists West Coast Office, 2397 Shattuck Ave. Suite 203, Berkeley, CA 94704 Phone:(510)843-1872 fax:(510)843-3785 www.ucsusa.org