Court Orders Stricter Fuel Economy Rules

Environmentalist groups rejoiced today after a federal appeals court struck down upcoming fuel-economy standards for some SUVs, minivans, and small trucks, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The court ruled that regulators refused to treat carbon dioxide emissions as a serious threat to global warming and ordered the government to review the standards, which would have gone into effect next year.

The standards would have raised minimum mpg requirements from 22.2 to 24.1 by 2011. Eleven states sued, saying that's not nearly good enough. "The court decision is a rebuke to the Bush administration," said the Sierra Club. The decision, however, may be moot if Congress mandates its own standards in the pending energy bill. (More global warming stories.)