States win a round on greenhouse gases

A Vermont court ruling is a victory for clean-air advocates in California, where a similar suit will be heard next month. Here's our editorial today on the case.

The Vermont court ruled against the nation's automakers, who are opposing a California-led push to let states regulate greenhouse gas emissions. The federal Environmental Protection Agency, too often a creature of the polluting industries, is stalling a waiver California needs to implement AB 32, the state's landmark greenhouse gas legislation.

The Vermont ruling has no direct impact on the case in Fresno, but the suits are so similar that environmentalists and others -- people with the quaint belief that the air we breathe should be clean -- are much encouraged.