Cox
LANSING, Mich. - Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox said Friday that he has filed a brief in support of the six automobile manufacturers sued by former California Attorney General Bill Lockyer.
Lockyer claimed automakers should pay the state damages for producing high-emission vehicles that pollute California's air. It adds that the automakers, Chrysler Motors Corp., General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co., Toyota Motor North America Inc., American Honda Motor Co. and Nissan North America Inc., could produce cleaner vehicles but have chosen to fight instead.
"If California is allowed to sue the automobile industry for billions of dollars in damages in this ill-conceived lawsuit, then other states will try to do the same thing. I will continue to fight to protect Michigan's economy and its citizens," Cox said.
Cox's "friend of the court" brief says the lawsuit should be dismissed from federal court in Oakland because it would require the court to set a limit on the amount of carbon dioxide automobiles would be allowed to emit.
"To establish a carbon dioxide limit for automobiles would require the court to balance a wide range of environmental, economic and foreign-policy concerns that are the subject of intense public debate," Cox said. "These kinds of determinations are fundamentally political questions that should be addressed by Congress and the Executive Branch, not the courts."