State sues to get data on meetings with carmakers

California sued the Bush administration for its records of meetings with automakers that preceded federal regulators’ decision that U.S. law preempted California’s carbon emission reduction rules.

State Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown said in a Freedom of Information complaint that the Office of Management and Budget and other agencies might be improperly withholding at least 142 documents from the state. OMB said the documents were “deliberative” interagency communications that were exempt from federal open records rules, the complaint said.

California is trying to learn whether carmakers influenced the National Highway Transportation Administration’s decision last year that California can’t enforce rules requiring 30% reductions in tailpipe emissions of carbon dioxide and other so-called greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.