CLF, Big Three at odds over clean air regulations.

• Position: Around the States - Conservation Law Foundation on automobile industry

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This past December, a federal judge in Rhode Island dismissed a bid by General Motors, Chrysler and two auto manufacture trade associations to block state regulations requiring automobiles to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 30 percent.

The ruling, responding to legal filings from CLF and the state Attorney General's office, delivered a major blow to the automakers, who had already lost two identical federal lawsuits in Vermont and California. "[I]t is difficult to see what interest the public has in permitting the plaintiffs another bite at the apple in challenging regulations limiting the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere," District Court Judge Edwin Torres wrote in his decision.

The decision came three days after the Big Three automakers arrived in Washington in their private jets, seeking $25 billion in federal assistance.

These two overlapping news stories were an illuminating window onto how out-of-touch the nation's automakers have been in adapting to changing consumer and climate change policy demands. President Obama, at the time of the Congressional hearing, called them "tone deaf."

The stricter California-based tailpipe emissions standards, adopted by every state in New England except New Hampshire, would have required Detroit to build exactly the types of vehicles that Congress and consumers are demanding today: hybrids...