California's Clean Air waiver rejected.

• Position: TRENDS AND TRANSITIONS - Brief article

For the first time since the Clean Air Act became law, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Dec. 19, 2007, denied a waiver request from California. The state wanted to require a 30 percent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2016 from cars and light trucks. In explaining his reasons for denying the waiver, EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson referenced the energy bill signed that same day, which increases the nation's fuel efficiency standards, thus negating the need for state action.

The EPA also says the waiver was rejected because the request did not meet the compelling and extraordinary standards that are required under the Clean Air Act. Climate change is a global issue, not one that affects California specifically and elsewhere less, according to the EPA.

In January, California officials filed suit, asking the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn EPA's waiver denial. "It is unconscionable that the federal government is keeping California and 19 other states from adopting these standards," says...