The rule, scheduled to go into effect tomorrow, would have required most taxi cabs to be fuel-efficient hybrids by 2012. The judge based his decision on the fact that only the Federal government has the power to regulate fuel economy. Of course the Federal government also mandates that municipalities meet stricter clean-air standards, which would result from the use of hybrids.
The taxi industry, which brought the suit challenging the city’s law, claimed that hybrids would be harder to maintain and less safe in an accident (arguments the judge rejected).