Appeals court hears gas mileage arguments

SAN FRANCISCO – Attorneys for 11 states, including Maine, and several environmental groups told a federal appeals court Monday that the Bush administration failed to consider global warming when setting new gas mileage rules.

The plaintiffs, led by California’s attorney general, told the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that federal regulators ignored the effects of carbon dioxide emissions when calculating fuel economy standards for light trucks and sport utility vehicles.

The new mileage standards, announced in March 2006, require an increase in the average fuel economy for all passenger trucks sold in the United States from 22.2 miles a gallon to 23.5 miles a gallon by 2010.

Speaking outside the courthouse, Attorney General Jerry Brown called the increase “pathetic” and said it “has the hand of lobbying, not the mind of science.”

Attorneys for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which sets the mileage standards, called the cost of greenhouse emissions from vehicles “unquantifiable” and said prioritizing their reduction went beyond the agency’s legal mandate.