Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Big Three lose a battle in Rhode Island

A Federal judge in Rhode Island threw out a lawsuit brought by the Big Three challenging Rhode Island's attempt to impose strict clean-air regulations.

I can't believe that the Big Three are still fighting this fight. It's absurd. Don't they realize what a PR disaster these kinds of lawsuits are? I can appreciate that they don't want a patchwork of differeing state regulations, but one reason that California has higher standards than the rest of the country is that the Big Three have fought higher federal standards for years! The Big Three are going to need help from Democrats, and they sure aren't helping their cause by keeping up the fight against tighter clean air regulations.

They have basically no leverage. Democrats are holding all the cards. The not-so-Big-Three-these-days have to demonstrate that they are changing their ways. John Dingell is no longer in a position to protect them.

Stopping whatever lawsuits like this one are left would be a great way for them to start showing the world that they understand that they are in a new world. It would also be an admission of failure. But that's necessary because they did fail. They lost this fight. Time to throw in the towel.

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