why was vermont"s regulation of greenhouse gas emissions not preempted by federal environmental statutes?

Question

fuel economy standards

Answer 1

Preemption depends upon the exact language of particular statutes.

In many cases, federal law creates minimal standards. In such cases, a state is authorized to enact higher standards.

In other cases (e.g. cigarette labels), the federal laws expressly prohibits any more restrictive state laws.

Finally, there are some areas where federal law generally prohibits state laws but allows some exception. Many environmental statutes have an express provision allowing California to adopt tougher standards and authorizing other states to follow California's standards.

Finally, preemption is always a case of statutory interpretation. Preemption does not prevent a state from passing a statute, it merely means that a court is supposed to ignore the state law and follow the federal law. (Legislatures pass all kinds of invalid and unconstitutional laws on a somewhat regular basis.) Ultimately, whether a federal law preempts a state law is a matter for the U.S. Supreme Court. A decision by a lower court (regardless of whether it finds that a state law is preempted or that a state law is not preempted) is not the last word on the issue.

Answer 2

One is state, one is federal. On issues such as the environment federal comes first.