No, Rush, California Isn't Banning Black Cars

Relax, Rush Limbaugh: California is not going to outlaw your favorite car color. The California Air Resources Board said yesterday that it isn’t, and never was, planning to ban black rides to mitigate greenhouse gases, the LA Times reports. A report to the CARB about the advantages of more reflective paint sent Limbaugh into high gear Thursday; the radio host railed against infringement of auto-owners rights on the air and his website proclaimed, “Tyrants Want to Ban Black Cars.”

A CARB presentation had theorized that making car interiors cooler would reduce the amount of air conditioning they use, hence reducing fuel usage. That could be accomplished by requiring car paint to be 20% reflective—something no current black paint can manage. A CARB spokesman said they’d abandoned the idea because paint technology isn’t up to snuff. Of course, they didn’t publicly drop the idea until Limbaugh called them “tyrants.” (More California stories.)