Emission Limits

Regarding the suit by automakers to block California’s greenhouse gas emission limits on cars (Dec. 8), the state in part invited the suit by not being more creative in designing its regulations.

The issue is whether the regulations are backdoor fuel-economy standards, the type that are supposed to be a federal responsibility.

The state could have neutralized this argument by allowing automakers to offset the required fleet emission reductions with reductions in other sectors in California, such as electric utilities. If the California Air Resources Board had done that, greenhouse gases would have been reduced just as much and it would have been much harder for automakers to credibly argue that the California regulation is basically a fuel-efficiency standard.

Charles D. Kolstad

Santa Barbara