Full Judge’s opinion here.
A landmark decision concerning car companies and global warming was handed down by a federal judge in California on Monday. Yet, most people are likely not going to hear about it, because the ruling goes counter to the media’s agenda.
As reported by the Associated Press : “District Judge Martin Jenkins in San Francisco handed California Attorney General Jerry Brown’s environmental crusade a stinging rebuke when he ruled that it [sic] impossible to determine to what extent automakers are responsible for global-warming damages in California.”
How delicious. But, there was much more about this decision the press will likely keep from people outside of California:
“The court is left without guidance in determining what is an unreasonable contribution to the sum of carbon dioxide in the earth’s atmosphere, or in determining who should bear the costs associated with global climate change that admittedly result from multiple sources around the globe,” Jenkins write.
The judge also ruled that keeping the lawsuit alive would threaten the country’s foreign policy position.
[…]
“President George W. Bush opposes the protocol because it exempts developing nations who are major emitters, fails to address two major pollutants, and would have a negative economic impact on the United States,” Jenkins wrote in his 24-page decision. To rule in favor of California would undermine the administration’s position, Jenkins said.
Jenkins said it’s up to lawmakers, rather than judges, to determine how responsible automakers are for global warming problems.
Jenkins ruled that a court “injecting itself into the global warming thicket at this juncture would require an initial policy determination of the type reserved for the political branches of government.”
Full blog by Noel Sheppard at Newsbusters is here.
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD is a critical thinker with expertise in the scientific method.
It’s another ‘victory’. Three cheers.
The judge has quite correctly put the “very spectre of indeterminate liability to an indeterminate class for an indeterminate amount”, back in the bottle where it belongs.
hip hip hoorah – SJT3PO are you as pleased as I am?
Bonus points – the decision was handed down by a San Francisco judge (super liberal city – of all the places to live in America, Gorbachev found SF to be the next best thing to home)
Double plus good bonus – judgement was a full on face smack to uber ecophoney Attorneys General Jerry (don’t let the name fool you, I am greener then you are) Brown.