Trump Says He Will Strip California’s Clean-Car Authority
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President Donald Trump said he will revoke California’s authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from autos, confirming a widely-anticipated move that will escalate the ongoing dispute between his administration and California.
Trump said on Twitter his administration’s replacement efficiency standards, which are being finalized by federal agencies for cars after 2020, will lead to greater vehicle production by reducing the cost of new vehicles.
Under Trump’s plan, the Environmental Protection Agency will revoke the so-called waiver underpinning the state’s ability to set tailpipe greenhouse-gas emissions standards that are more stringent, as well as the state’s electric vehicle sales mandate. The Transportation Department meanwhile will assert that the California rules are preempted by federal fuel-economy standards administered by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The Trump Administration is revoking California’s Federal Waiver on emissions in order to produce far less expensive cars for the consumer, while at the same time making the cars substantially SAFER. This will lead to more production because of this pricing and safety...... — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 18, 2019
EPA and Transportation department representatives didn’t immediately respond to emails seeking comment.
Trump’s announcement does not affect medium- or heavy-duty trucks.
“It is focused on the light-duty automobile waiver,” Mike Tunnell, ATA’s California based director of energy and environmental affairs, told Transport Topics. “The CARB truck-and-bus-rule waiver was granted several years ago. EPA hasn’t looked at the heavy-duty side, including the EPA clean trucks initiative or the low NOx standard.”
A California Air Resources Board spokesman also said trucking would see no impact. “It’s purely passenger vehicles and it’s purely greenhouse gases,” CARB spokesman Dave Clegern told TT. “There’s nothing that we are aware of that would involve trucks or even heavy equipment.”
The move is the Trump administration’s opening salvo in what’s sure to be a contentious battle over states rights and environmental policy between officials in California and Washington, with automakers caught in the middle. Predictable emissions and fuel economy standards are vital for automakers because they plan production and model offerings several years in the future.
“The president’s decision to end California’s authority to set higher vehicle emission standards is bad for California and it’s bad for the country,” said California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein. “Revoking California’s authority will lead not only to more pollution, it will cost consumers billions of dollars a year in increased fuel consumption.”
....far safer and much less expensive. Many more cars will be produced under the new and uniform standard, meaning significantly more JOBS, JOBS, JOBS! Automakers should seize this opportunity because without this alternative to California, you will be out of business. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 18, 2019
The move will shatter a nearly decade-long regulatory arrangement between NHTSA, EPA and CARB that has allowed automakers to satisfy fuel economy and efficiency standards administered by each agency with a single fleet of vehicles that can be sold nationwide.
“Don’t trample on our” states rights, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra told reporters in a press conference after Trump’s tweets. Becerra said the state emissions rules are “about survival” and that “unlike the Trump administration we don’t run scared” from climate change.
The Trump administration in August 2018 proposed stripping California’s authority as part of its broader plan to slash federal emissions and fuel-economy requirements enacted by the Obama administration.
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The plan initially recommended capping requirements after 2020 at a 37 mile-per-gallon fleet average, instead of rising each year to roughly 50 mpg. U.S. officials have since signaled that the final rule may require small annual improvements, but at levels far less than required under the current standards. Separating the attack on California’s authority allows that piece of the rule to proceed while federal agencies continue to finalize the new replacement requirements.
Dave Schwietert, interim president of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, said the group will review the action and the still-pending federal emissions and fuel-economy standards for 2021 to 2026 to evaluate how they affect its member companies, employees and consumers.
“Automakers support year-over-year increases in fuel economy standards that align with marketplace realities, and we support one national program as the best path to preserve good auto jobs, keep new vehicles affordable for more Americans and avoid a marketplace with different standards,” he said in a statement.
CARB announced in July an accord with Ford Motor Co., Honda Motor Co., BMW AG and Volkswagen AG on tailpipe greenhouse gas emissions regulations.
The carmakers agreed with the state’s clean-air regulator to boost the fuel efficiency of autos sold in the U.S through 2026, defying the Trump administration’s proposal to ease the Obama administration’s standards. Earlier this month, Trump’s Justice Department opened an antitrust probe into the deal.
Honda is fully cooperating, Art St. Cyr, vice president of auto operations for the company’s U.S. sales unit, said Sept. 18. At an event to unveil the new CR-V crossover in Detroit, he said Trump’s decision to revoke California’s waiver will be challenged in court.
Free market groups who had been pushing the administration to roll back the standard cheered the move while environmentalists decried it.
“Withdrawing the California waiver is great news for car buyers and drivers. The rapid increase in new car prices should slow down, which means more people will be able to afford to buy a new car,” said Myron Ebell, a director at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, who is one of the main proponents of revoking California’s waiver. “The decision also restores our federalist system. With the waiver, California was for practical purposes put in charge of deciding what kinds of cars people across the nation can buy.”
Paul Cort, an attorney for the environmental group Earthjustice, said, “It’s bad enough the administration won’t take any meaningful action to clean our air or fight the warming climate that threatens us all; now they want to prevent California and other states from filling that gap.”
Contributing: Eric Miller of Transport Topics
