The fight over fuel economy rules is getting messy

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Legal wrangling among the federal government, the state of California, and four automakers who-oddly-are asking for more stringent regulations got even more knotty this month, when the Department of Justice reportedly launched an antitrust probe into companies that struck a deal with California climate regulators.

Now some members of Congress are urging an independent investigation of the investigation, amid suspicions that the probe is an attempt to punish the automakers-and California-for parting ways with federal policy on fuel economy.

The "what' is confusing; the "why," less so. If the average global temperature rises by 4C by the end of the century, as it may be on track to do, scientists say a whole bunch of bad things would likely happen: higher sea levels, more extreme weather. In the US, transportation is responsible for 29% of greenhouse gas emissions, and nearly 60% of those come from light-duty vehicles like passenger cars.

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