Arguments in federal gas mileage suit

Lawyers for 11 states 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 per gallon to 23.5 miles per gallon by 2010. The Department of Transportation says the new mileage standards would save the U.S. about 10.7 billion gallons of gasoline.

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."

The plaintiffs are asking that the agency recalculate the standards.

Lawyers 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.

"Congress directed the agency to balance the ultimate goal of increased fuel economy against the need to preserve economic stability and consumer choice," Bush administration lawyers wrote in response to the lawsuit.

Federal law does not allow the agency to disregard that balance "to combat the global concerns raised by the emission of carbon dioxide by vehicles," the government lawyers wrote.

The arguments came the same day that President Bush ordered federal agencies to find a way to begin regulating vehicle emissions by the time he leaves office.

Last month, the Supreme Court ruled against the Bush administration by declaring that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases qualify as air pollutants under the Clean Air Act and can be regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Along with California, plaintiffs in the lawsuit filed last year include Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, New York City, the District of Columbia and several environmental groups.