Contra Costa Times Coverage: Faiths Take Legal Fight to Automakers

It's been four years since a coalition of religious environmentalists pricked the consciences of the faithful by asking, "What would Jesus drive?"

East Bay clergy members not only have guessed Jesus would drive a hybrid, they also have gone a step further since that 2003 personal challenge to "walk the walk and drive the talk."

They have taken the lead in a legal showdown over a law that would direct automakers to produce only fuel-efficient vehicles.

The Automakers Alliance, and primarily Toyota, sued in 2004 to stop the state from implementing AB1493, dubbed the Clean Car Bill. It became law in 2002 but has yet to be implemented. It requires manufacturers to use the most feasible and cost-effective methods to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

California Interfaith Power and Light, a faith-based environmental organization based in Oakland, supported the law and is urging the manufacturers to drop their lawsuit.

"It's shocking that they would be blocking a bill that would take all necessary steps to apply (clean air) standards," said Jessica Brown, outreach director of the group.

Interfaith Power and Light's goal is to encourage California's 50,000 congregations to adopt sustainable energy practices, and in turn to urge their congregants to do the same. The organization also sounds the drum on global warming.

The organization is rallying its more than 460 member congregations to weigh in by today, when a pretrial conference will be held..

Brown finds a particular irony in Toyota's attack on the bill since so many faith leaders drive a Prius, an energy-efficient hybrid car manufactured by the company.

"We have this DVD that shows how to cut greenhouse gases, and it shows (the Rev.) Sally Bingham driving her Prius," Brown said. "Now they are coming in the back door supporting General Motors and Daimler-Chrysler."

The Rev. Will McGarvey of Community Presbyterian Church in Pittsburg owns two Priuses.

"I wrote a letter today myself to the CEO of Toyota," McGarvey said. "We buy based on fuel efficiency but also being real low emitters. My being a Presbyterian influences that. We ask (congregants) questions about how our faith informs our lives every week, whether we are Christian, Jewish, Buddhist or Muslim. We are a special part of the creation, but we are not more important than it."

In a letter, faith leaders urged Toyota, as the world's largest automaker, to "play a leadership role in the greatest moral dilemma of our time: the race to stop the catastrophic damage that is being done to our sacred planet and its citizens by global warming."

Supporting creation requires steps both protective and remedial, said the Rev. Phil Brochard of St. Paul Episcopal Church in Walnut Creek, who bikes to work twice a week and drives a Honda hybrid on his visits to congregants.

"It's more than a matter of personal conscience," he said. "It's part of our duty to make an impact."

In California, more than 40 percent of greenhouse gas emissions come from motor vehicles. The California Air Resources Board says the technological changes advocated in the bill would save consumers millions of dollars in damage to the environment, particularly in threats to the water supply. But it faced steep opposition from industry.

Automakers argued that it is the province of the federal government, not states, to regulate emissions.

And they said they are already making energy-efficient cars.

Sales figures show consumers have snapped up a record number of alternative-fuel cars in the first quarter of 2007, according to the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers. Sales of hybrid vehicles increased by more than 30 percent from the same period last year, rising from 51,285 to 74,056.

Representatives of Toyota did not respond to numerous requests for comment.

But a spokesman for the auto industry said there's no chance the litigants will drop their lawsuit.

"Not possible," said Charles Territo, speaking for the American Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers.

"I am not aware of any faiths that don't believe the environment is important or of any automakers who don't believe the environment is important," he said. "There is no health or environmental benefit that would come as the result of adopting these standards."

Automakers also challenged a Vermont clean car bill based on California's. The case went to trial, but the judge has yet to issue a ruling.

In September, then-Attorney General Bill Lockyer sued the six largest automakers in the United States, claiming greenhouse gas missions from the vehicles they produce have cost millions of dollars in damage.

Religious leaders have played an increasingly vocal role in the attempt to craft public policy on environmental protection. Last week, prominent clerics from four faiths urged a Senate committee to regulate the greenhouse gases that bring about global warming.

"Some folks get tied up on the global warming piece, whether it is human made or not," McGarvey said. "For me, the issue is climate change. If we can preclude it, why wouldn't we?"

Rebecca Rosen Lum covers religion. Reach her at 925-977-8506 or rrosenlum@cctimes.com.

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