Supreme Court Nixes Calif. Antismog Rule *

[Woodmonkey]

April 28, 2004 10:39 AM EDT *
*
Excerpt:

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a Southern California agency may have gone too far in imposing its own antismog rules for city buses, airport shuttles and other vehicles.

Justices, on a 8-1 vote, sided with oil companies and diesel engine manufacturers who claimed that local pollution rules conflict with national standards.

The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the tougher local rules, but the decision was voided by the high court. The Supreme Court sent the case back to California to consider the issues.

Justice Antonin Scalia, writing for the court, said that the emissions rules appear to blocked by the federal Clean Air Act.

"If one state or political subdivision may enact such rules, then so may any other; and the end result would undo Congress's carefully calibrated regulatory scheme," he wrote.

For the rest of the story:

http://start.usaa.net/newsarticle?ca...827T0BG0_story