Supreme Court lets fuel companies sue over California’s tough emission standards

The Supreme Court on Friday revived a lawsuit from fuel producers challenging California’s strict vehicle emission rules, allowing the companies to fight an on-again, off-again climate policy that President Donald Trump has previously opposed.

The Supreme Court on Friday revived a lawsuit from fuel producers challenging California’s strict vehicle emission rules, allowing the companies to fight an on-again, off-again climate policy that President Donald Trump has previously opposed. Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote the opinion for a 7-2 majority. Liberal Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented. “The government generally may not target a business or industry through stringent and allegedly unlawful regulation, and then evade the resulting lawsuits by claiming that the targets of its regulation should be locked out of court as unaffected bystanders,” Kavanaugh wrote. While the federal government generally sets vehicle emission standards, the Environmental Protection Agency has at times granted a waiver to California – because of its longstanding air-quality problems – to set tougher standards. Given the state’s size, automakers have long hewed to its tighter emissions controls even for cars sold in other states. That waiver was challenged by Diamond Alternative Energy, a subsidiary of Valero Energy Corporation, and several other companies and groups that advocate on behalf of fuel manufacturers. Although the fuel producers challenged the waiver itself, the Supreme Court specifically declined to review that question, denying an appeal in December that raised that issue. Instead, the only issue before the justices was whether the companies and trade associations had standing to sue.