Three cheers for the Governator! The governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, has returned to his action hero roots fighting on behalf of Californians and the environment.

Earlier this year, California filed suit against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to force it to respond to the state's request for a waiver. California, along with 16 other states, wants to set auto emissions standards that are higher than the EPA federal guidelines. They needed a waiver in order to do that. If it had been granted, the higher standards would have applied to half of the cars sold in the U.S. However, on Wednesday the EPA finally responded, after a delay of over two years, denying the request.

According to the EPA:

"The Bush administration is moving forward with a clear national solution, not a confusing patchwork of state rules,” he said. “I believe this is a better approach than if individual states were to act alone."

So much for state's rights. Why in the world would it be a problem to require higher emissions standards? Just who is the EPA really protecting? It doesn't seem to be the environment.

The Governator responded by saying:

And I think what it's basically saying is that they made a decision which is against the will of millions of people in California. It's a decision that is against the will of 16 other states. When I look at that, the Environmental Protection Agency is the Environmental Destruction Agency. The name says it protects the environment. How can that protect the environment when you don't want to let anyone really move forward with this agenda? And the excuse that it is a national issue and therefore it must be handled at a national level — I say to myself, "Wait a minute, let me think this through for a second," which we always do, we think a little bit. If you have a national problem with hunger and starvation, do I say, "Stop feeding people at the local level. We can't get involved. We have to have a policy nationally." No, we don't.

Ahhnold says that California will sue the EPA again, this time to overturn the decision. Go Governator!