It may have seemed lately that the Chicago City Council, doing things like banning goose liver and saying no to Wal-Mart, is responsible for the silliest, most irresponsible government in the country. But here comes the California attorney general to claim the prize for his state:
California sued six of the world's largest automakers over global warming on Wednesday, charging that greenhouse gases from their vehicles have caused billions of dollars in damages.
The lawsuit is the first of its kind to seek to hold manufacturers liable for the damages caused by their vehicles' emissions, state Attorney General Bill Lockyer said.
It comes less than a month after California lawmakers adopted the nation's first global warming law mandating a cut in greenhouse gas emissions.
Sounds like Al Gore's kind of place:
Former Vice President Al Gore's proposal to replace payroll taxes with a tax on pollution, including carbon dioxide, to help cut greenhouse gas emissions and curb global warming "is a welcome idea that deserves to be taken seriously," says William H. Schlesinger, dean of the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences and James B. Duke Professor of Biogeochemistry at Duke University.
