SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Handing a major defeat to the auto industry, a federal judge ruled Wednesday that California can regulate greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles.

The ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Anthony Ishii in Fresno clears one of the hurdles in California’s effort to regulate tailpipe emissions from cars, trucks and sport utility vehicles.

Automakers sued the state over the tailpipe standards it approved in 2004, which would force auto­makers to build cars and light trucks that produce about 30 percent fewer greenhouse gases by 2016.

However, the state still needs a waiver from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to begin implementing the program. The EPA has not yet issued a decision, leading California and 14 other states to sue the agency in November, seeking quicker action.

“It’s a major victory and a giant step forward for California,” California Attorney General Jerry Brown said of Wednesday’s ruling. “I hope this will get the attention of President Bush and have him support significant caps on greenhouse gas emissions.”

In its lawsuit against the state, the Association of International Automobile Manufacturers argued that it was the federal government’s responsibility to establish one uniform fuel economy standard. Without one, manufacturers would be forced to produce vehicles using too many different efficiency standards, raising the cost of cars and eliminating some model choices.

They argued that a federal energy law passed in 1975 gives the U.S. Department of Transportation sole jurisdiction over fuel economy.

But Ishii rejected that claim, saying Congress gave California and the EPA the authority to regulate vehicle emissions, even if those rules are more strict than those imposed by the federal government.