Lead - or let states.

Byline: The Register-Guard

If neither Congress nor the Bush administration are willing to enact strict regulation of tailpipe emissions of greenhouse gases, they should step aside and let California, Oregon and 10 other states do it on their own.

For more than a year, the Bush administration has refused the states' requests for permission to exceed inadequate and outdated federal standards regulating carbon emissions. It shows no signs of relenting, even though the U.S. Supreme Court last month ruled that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has the authority - and responsibility - to regulate heat-trapping greenhouse gases in auto emissions.

Now, some Democrats in Congress are playing the role of obstructionists, as well.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., and Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., both leaders on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, have drafted energy legislation that would prevent states from exceeding federal standards on auto emissions.

The legislation would specifically bar the EPA from granting states the waivers they need to put their new emissions rules into effect. As Frank O'Donnell, president of the environmental group Clean Air Watch, observed, the draft bill "looks as if it could have been written in the boardroom of General Motors."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, responding to pressure from officials and environmental groups in her home state of California, swiftly issued this warning: "Any proposal that affects California's landmark efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions or eliminates the EPA's authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions will not have my support." Without the speaker's blessing, Boucher and Dingell don't have a prayer of getting their energy proposal to the House floor as long as it contains a provision pre-empting states' efforts to limit emissions.

That's mildly reassuring. But Pelosi and other Democratic leaders should be doing more than waging a defensive battle on emissions. They should be pushing for a comprehensive energy policy that includes serious new limits on tailpipe emissions and gasoline consumption.

Despite the Supreme Court's ruling, the Bush administration has already made its intentions clear. President Bush recently ordered federal agencies to develop proposals for regulating vehicle emissions and reducing fuel consumption by the time he leaves office in January 2009. In other words, he intends to run out the clock and then hang the millstone of global warming around the neck of his successor.

Oregon and a growing number of other states understand delay is no longer a viable option. A recent United Nations study warned that the world - including the leading producer of carbon gases, the United States - must stabilize greenhouse emissions within eight years or face dire consequences.

If the Bush administration and Congress won't respond to such clarion warnings, they must step aside and let the states lead the way.