The Biden administration on Wednesday restored California’s ability to set its own pollution rules for passenger vehicles that are stricter than federal standards, returning the state to a national leadership role in reducing emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants.
“Today we proudly reaffirm California’s longstanding authority to lead in addressing pollution from cars and trucks,” said Michael Regan, administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The decision by the U.S. E.P.A., which Biden had promised shortly after he took office, reverses a 2019 decision from the Trump administration.
Trump’s E.P.A., which had been led by Andrew Wheeler, a former coal lobbyist, sought to set uniform nationwide standards and blocked California from setting its own tailpipe pollution rules as it historically has done.
California officials and environmental groups cheered the news Wednesday.
“I thank the Biden Administration for righting the reckless wrongs of the Trump Administration and recognizing our decades-old authority to protect Californians and our planet,” said Gov. Gavin Newsom.
California’s ability to set its own standards for pollution from passenger vehicles dates back more than 50 years and was put in place by the 1970 Clean Air Act, which was signed by President Richard Nixon, largely because at the time California had the nation’s worst smog.
Over the years, California has adopted tough tailpipe rules that were often copied by other states and eventually copied by the federal government, helping reduce smog dramatically nationwide as cars, trucks, and SUVs have become cleaner.
However, there is a legal loophole to California’s power. The Clean Air Act’s language requires California to obtain a waiver from the U.S. E.P.A. to set tougher standards than the federal government. Historically, presidents have granted that permission dozens of times. Other states then are allowed to copy California’s standards.
As the nation’s largest auto market with 40 million residents — more people than Canada has — California has the ability to influence rules in other states and nationwide, and how vehicles are built, which affects how much pollution millions of cars, trucks and SUVs emit.
The Trump administration had denied giving California the waiver. In a speech in September 2019 to the National Automobile Dealer’s Association, Wheeler said he supported federalism, a system of government where states have some power. But he added: “federalism does not mean that one state can dictate standards for the nation.”
Critics said Wheeler and Trump were handicapping efforts to reduce smog and greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles at the request of industry.
California and more than 20 other states sued to overturn the Trump decision. But when Trump lost the 2020 election, the die was cast.
On Wednesday, environmental groups called the Biden decision a major step forward in addressing climate change.
“Today is an important day for the future of transportation policy,” said Michelle Robinson, director of the Clean Transportation Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists. “EPA did the right thing by reinstating the waiver, without which California was prevented from enforcing higher greenhouse gas emissions standards and effectively promoting zero-emissions vehicles.”
California’s previous waiver had been approved by the Obama administration.
The state’s “advanced clean car” standards require new vehicles sold in California to emit 40% fewer greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, by 2025, compared to 2016 levels.
Reducing greenhouse gas emissions, which come from the burning of fossil fuels, has had the effect of forcing automakers to increase gas mileage. Obama adopted California’s standard as the national standard in 2012, which he said at the time would require an average fleet fuel economy of 54 miles per gallon on new vehicles sold in 2025.
Environmental groups hailed that as a major announcement to dramatically reduce America’s consumption of foreign oil, cut smog and lower greenhouse gas emissions.
But the Trump EPA loosened those rules so that the fleet average would peak at about 37 miles per gallon by 2025 instead.
Trump officials said the Obama-California rules would reduce safety and increase the price of vehicles. California officials said the safety argument is not supported by science and that the state’s rules reduce costs over the life of vehicles due to the need for motorists to buy less gasoline.
The dispute split the auto industry. Some automakers endorsed the Trump approach and others agreed to a compromise with California to largely put in place its standards anyway.
Since then Newsom signed an executive order that bans the sale of all new gasoline-powered passenger vehicles in California starting in 2035.
At least a dozen countries around the world already have similar laws imposing a ban on the sale of new gasoline-powered vehicles by 2030, including England, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Israel and India. Canada and France have announced a phase-out of internal combustion engines by 2040.
Source: www.mercurynews.com