...and they should be "dealt with."

SAN FRANCISCO, California (Reuters) -- California sued six of the
world's largest automakers over global warming on Wednesday, charging
that greenhouse gases from their vehicles have caused billions of
dollars in damages.

The lawsuit is the first of its kind to seek to hold manufacturers
liable for the damages caused by their vehicles' emissions, state
Attorney General Bill Lockyer said.

It comes less than a month after California lawmakers adopted the
nation's first global warming law mandating a cut in greenhouse gas
emissions.

California has also targeted the auto industry with first-in-the-nation
rules adopted in 2004 requiring car makers to force cuts in tailpipe
emissions from cars and trucks.

Automakers, however, have so far blocked those rules with their own
legal action -- prompting one analyst to say California's lawsuit
represents a way for California to pressure car manufacturers to accept
the rules.

"That's the objective," said David Cole, chairman of the Center for
Automotive Research, a nonprofit organization that provides public
research and forecasts about the industry.

"They want to get the automakers basically to bow down and pay homage
to the (emissions) law."

The complaint, which an auto industry trade group called a "nuisance"
suit, names General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co., Toyota Motor Corp.,
the U.S. arm of Germany's Daimler Chrysler AG and the North American
units of Japan's Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. Ltd..

Lockyer told Reuters he would seek "tens or hundreds of millions of
dollars" from the automakers in the lawsuit filed in U.S. District
Court in Northern California.

Environmental groups hailed the lawsuit, saying it represented another
weapon for the state as it seeks to curb greenhouse gas emissions and
spur the auto industry to build vehicles that pollute less.

"(California) just passed a new law to cut global warming emissions by
25 percent and that's a good start and this lawsuit is a good next
step," said Dan Becker, director of the Sierra Club's Global Warming
Program.

Ford deferred comment to the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers,
which said the lawsuit was similar to one a New York court dismissed
that is now on appeal.

"Automakers will need time to review this legal complaint, however, a
similar nuisance suit that was brought by attorneys- general against
utilities was dismissed by a federal court in New York," the industry
group said in a statement.

Toyota declined to comment as the company evaluates the lawsuit, while
Honda said in a statement it was committed to developing
environmentally responsible technology.

The other automakers had no immediate comment.

However, Sean Hecht, executive director of the Environmental Law Center
at the University of California, Los Angeles, said the lawsuit has a
"reasonable" chance of succeeding.

He also noted the judge in the New York lawsuit cited rarely-used legal
doctrine in ruling that the question at issue was political rather than
legal and should therefore be addressed by the legislature and not the
court.

"I was surprised that the court in that case did that," he said. "I
think it is a straight forward legal question. My impression is this is
a very legitimate case to bring."

The lawsuit seeks monetary damages for past and ongoing contributions
to global warming and asks that the companies be held liable for future
monetary damages to California. It said California is spending millions
to deal with reduced snow pack, beach erosion, ozone pollution and the
impact on endangered animals and fish.

"The injuries have caused the people to suffer billions of dollars in
damages, including millions of dollars of funds expended to determine
the extent, location and nature of future harm and to prepare for and
mitigate those harms, and billions of dollars of current harm to the
value of flood control infrastructure and natural resources," it said.

The Center for Automotive Research's Cole said it would be tough for
the industry to immediately meet demands from some critics and
predicted other states would quickly follow suit should California
succeed with the legal action.

Adoption of diesel engine emissions technology or gasoline-electric
hybrids comes at great cost and improving gas mileage also likely means
smaller lighter vehicles, trade-offs that are not attractive to
consumers, he added.

"These are not free technologies, they are very expensive," Cole said.
"Most people are price sensitive."

In the complaint, Lockyer charges that vehicle emissions have
contributed significantly to global warming and have harmed the
resources, infrastructure and environmental health of the most populous
state in the United States.

Lockyer -- a Democratic candidate for state treasurer in the November
election -- said the lawsuit states that under federal and state common
law the automakers have created a public nuisance by producing
"millions of vehicles that collectively emit massive quantities of
carbon dioxide."

Carbon dioxide emissions and other greenhouse gases have been linked to
global warming.