The state is taking on the federal Environmental Protection Agency, filing a lawsuit because of EPA's foot dragging on an important air quality issue. That's good news, as we said in an editorial today.
California asked for the waiver in 2005. The EPA and the White House have been lobbying against the greenhouse gas initiative that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger launched a while back, mostly at the behest of their friends in the auto industry. California is allowed to write stricter rules than the feds on air quality, but must get a waiver from EPA to do so. EPA has never denied such a waiver, but it's taking forever to consider this one. Hence, the lawsuit.
The Bush administration has been no friend of the environment, so this isn't much of a surprise. But it sure would be nice to have an EPA that actually sought to protect the environment instead of treating it like just another marketable commodity.
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