One of the realities of global warming is that the snow pack will shrink as rain falls instead of snow, creating greater flood risk and generating an additional reason to build the Auburn Dam to capture the American River Watershed rain and snow run-off.
Maybe as part of the settlement from these suits, if they ever proceed that far, is that some of the money helps build the dam.
Partly kidding here :).
State sues automakers over warming
By Dale Kasler - Bee Staff Writer Published 12:00 am PDT Thursday, September 21, 2006
California's ongoing courtroom battle with the auto industry over environmental issues kicked into higher gear Wednesday when state Attorney General Bill Lockyer sued the leading automakers, accusing them of contributing to global warming through tailpipe emissions.
Lockyer's suit said General Motors, Toyota and four other major carmakers share blame for such maladies as the decline of the California snowpack, the increased threat of wildfires and worsened urban air pollution.
The suit represented the latest in a series of global-warming lawsuits pitting California and other states against automakers, power generators and other titans of industry.
Filed in U.S. District Court in Oakland, the suit said the automakers are "among the world's largest contributors" to global warming and demanded they pay unspecified monetary damages to the state.
The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers called Lockyer's claim a "nuisance suit" and noted that the courts rejected a similar case he and other attorneys general filed against the electric utility industry.
"Automakers are already building cleaner, more fuel-efficient vehicles," the group said in a statement.
With Lockyer running for state treasurer in November, the nonprofit Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich., dismissed the suit as an attempt to gain votes. "I don't think it means anymore than it says. It's California politics," said center economist Sean McAlinden.
