Big Defeat For Automakers

The state Assembly has handed a major defeat to global automakers by passing a bill to limit carbon dioxide from auto emissions starting in 2009. The vote closes months of bitter political struggle between the California Legislature and carmakers opposed to the bill. Carmakers say it´s a backdoor attempt to make cars more fuel efficient. They have maintained in a massive advertising blitz that the bill will restrict the kinds of vehicles Californians can buy. But environmental groups say cars and trucks contribute forty percent of California´s contribution to global warming. They´re calling it one of the most significant climate change bills ever passed in the U-S.