For the long wait that preceded it, the U.S. EPA’s just-released justification for disallowing California to regulate vehicle greenhouse-gas emissions is rather anticlimactic. The 48-page document argues that California lacks the “compelling and extraordinary conditions” required for special regulatory permission, because the rest of the nation is also affected by climate change. Critics of the EPA (including the agency’s own staff) challenge that interpretation — and say that California’s long coastline, massive agricultural industry, and propensity for wildfires do make it more vulnerable to climate-change effects than other states.
