Trump Administration to Halt Clean Car Standards, Revoke California's Right to Regulate

picture-7019-1570723309.jpg
on

The Trump administration will announce plans this week to revoke Californiaโ€™s authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions for automobiles, according to inside sources quoted by Bloomberg.

This directly contradicts comments made by the Environmental Protection Agencyโ€™s (EPAโ€™s) air chief, William Wehrum, who said in January that the agency had โ€œno interest whatsoever in withdrawing CA‘s authority toย regulate.โ€

The Trump administrationโ€™s proposal would also, according to Bloomberg, โ€œcap federal fuel economy requirements at the 2020 level, which under federal law must be at least a 35-mile-per-gallon fleet average, rather than letting them rise to roughly 50 mpg by 2025 as envisioned in the planโ€ currently on the books, which President Obama had negotiated with the auto industry and the state ofย California.

The proposed plan would thus break from decades of precedent guaranteeing Californiaโ€™s right under the Clean Air Act to set its own air pollution standards, and disregards the auto industryโ€™s own arguments for preserving strong fuel economy and emissionsย standards.

Californiaโ€™s Clean Air Act Waiver Prevents Emissions Standard Rollbacksโ€ฆForย Now

Under the Clean Air Act of 1970, California has the right to request a waiver from the EPA to allow state air regulators to set tailpipe emissions standards independent of federal regulations. If the proposed standards are โ€œat least as protective of public health and welfareโ€ as the EPAโ€™s, the agencyโ€™s administrator is compelled by the Clean Air Act to grant theย waiver.

In 2009, the EPA granted such a waiver for greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles, though California never set its own tougher standards because it immediately agreed to the unified โ€œOne National Programโ€ of emissions and fuel economy standards with the EPA and the Department ofย Transportation.

So, under the current regulatory regime, Californiaโ€™s waiver is redundant. But if the Trump administration moves to lower the federal standards for greenhouse gas emissions from cars and light duty trucks, Californiaโ€™s waiver would allow the stateโ€™s air resources board (CARB) preserve the current, strongerย standards.

Other states are also allowed under the Clean Air Act to sign onto Californiaโ€™s standards (theyโ€™re often called โ€œ177 states,โ€ after the section in the Clean Air Act that grants them this right), and currently 14 states plus the District of Columbia have done so, together representing more than one-third of the countryโ€™s auto market. Last month, Colorado became the latest state to formally adopt Californiaโ€™s standards, in a move that was seen as directly defiant of the EPAโ€™s threats to roll back emissionsย standards.

The prospect of multiple regulatory regimes is unpalatable for automakers, who would then have to decide whether to set up two different production lines for states following the California standards and the rest of the country, or whether to treat Californiaโ€™s targets as a de facto national standard. In May, Mitch Bainwol, head of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers (or Auto Alliance), the main domestic trade group of car companies, warned Congress of aย  โ€œregulatory nightmareโ€ if the federal standards and Californiaโ€™s were notย aligned.

To preserve one national standard, the administration could either keep the plan thatโ€™s in place, forge another grand bargain between automakers, EPA, DOT, and the state of California, or the EPA would have to strip California of itsย waiver.

In the history of the Clean Air Act, a waiver that has previously been granted to California has never been revoked. If acting administrator Andrew Wheeler does attempt to revoke the waiver, it would almost certainly bring about years of litigation from California and the rest of the โ€œ177 states,โ€ and subsequently bring about years of regulatoryย uncertainty.

Koch Allies Take on Californiaโ€™sย Waiver

If the administration does indeed go after Californiaโ€™s waiver, it will be fulfilling the wishes of a a number of conservative organizations, many with close ties to the Koch brothers and Koch Industries. In April, the American Consumer Institute (ACI) organized a letter to then EPA administrator Scott Pruitt calling โ€œfor the revocation of Californiaโ€™s waiver from the Clean Air Act, which allows the state to decouple from federal policy and impose strict emission standards onย automobiles.โ€

Eight of the eleven groups that signed the ACI letter have clear financial or organizational ties to the Koch network, including the Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA), FreedomWorks, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), and Americans for Tax Reform.

In May, three former members of President Trumpโ€™s transition teams โ€” all of whom work or worked with Koch-funded and Koch-founded organizationsโ€”sent the president another letter, which also argued for the EPA to withdraw Californiaโ€™s legislated right to set its own tailpipe emissionsย standards.

As DeSmog reported at the time, that โ€œletter was signed by Tom Pyle of the Institute for Energy Research (IER), Myron Ebell of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, and Shirley Ybarra, a former fellow at the Reason Foundation. All three organizations have close Koch ties, and Pyle was himself a lobbyist for Koch Industries, the petrochemical empire privately owned by billionaire brothers Charles and Davidย Koch.โ€

Trumpโ€™s Auto Rollback Plan Ignores Automaker and Industry Partsย Suppliers

The Trump administrationโ€™s plan, as reported by Bloomberg, disregards the arguments and wishes of the auto industry, which has in recent months rallied to support more stringent emissions standards, while asking for minor adjustments to the current regulations to accommodate some โ€œflexibilitiesโ€ in meeting theย standards.

In March, Bill Ford, chairman of Ford Motor Company, wrote that his company was โ€œnot asking for a rollback,โ€ a sentiment he reaffirmed in a May shareholder meeting. Honda, likewise, urged the administration to provide some flexible mechanisms for compliance, โ€œwithout a reduction in overall stringency.โ€

Meanwhile, automotive parts suppliers have maintained a consistent position that strong CAFE and emissions standards are good for business, good for the economy, and good for Americanย competitiveness.

A group of parts and equipment manufacturers joined forces in March to form the Automotive Technology Leadership Group, with a goal of advocating for continuing current fuel economy standards and reducing emissions.

โ€œWe โ€ฆ believe it is in the nationโ€™s best interest for the U.S. to continue leading in the development and manufacture of the cleanest and most efficient vehicles in the world,โ€ the Leadership Group wrote in its โ€œStatement of Principles.โ€ โ€œThe innovation brought on by competition and our national performance standards has created hundreds of thousands of jobs in this country and significant market opportunities for U.S. companiesย abroad,โ€

The BlueGreen Alliance has calculated that the industry as a whole has record high employment and that parts suppliers benefit greatly from ambitious fuel economy standards. Figures from Environmental Defense Fund echo the sentiment, revealing record sales, profitability, and job growth during the very same period that the current clean car standards have been in place.

The Trump administrationโ€™s proposal, expected to be announced publicly later this week, will immediately implode the regulatory certainty that the auto industry relies on for planning, profitability, and growth. The proposal will be opened up for public comment before it is finalized, though states will not wait to launch legalย challenges.

In May, seventeen states and the District of Columbia sued the EPA to preserve the Obama-era standards. That suit, which has yet to be argued before federal courts, will likely be updated to reflect the administrationโ€™s now-official plans to halt the increase in fuel efficiency and emissions standards and to revoke Californiaโ€™s special waiver. Californiaโ€™s attorney general and regulators have been outspoken in their intent to defend the stateโ€™s right to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from personal vehicles, and a lengthy legal battle now seems all butย certain.

Main image: Los Angeles traffic. Credit:ย Jeff Turner,ย CC BYย 2.0

picture-7019-1570723309.jpg
Ben Jervey is a Senior Fellow for DeSmog and directs the KochvsClean.com project. He is a freelance writer, editor, and researcher, specializing in climate change and energy systems and policy. Ben is also a Research Fellow at the Institute for Energy and the Environment at Vermont Law School. He was the original Environment Editor for GOOD Magazine, and wrote a longstanding weekly column titled โ€œThe New Ideal: Building the clean energy economy of the 21st Century and avoiding the worst fates of climate change.โ€ He has also contributed regularly to National Geographic News, Grist, and OnEarth Magazine. He has published three booksโ€”on eco-friendly living in New York City, an Energy 101 primer, and, most recently, โ€œThe Electric Battery: Charging Forward to a Low Carbon Future.โ€ He graduated with a BA in Environmental Studies from Middlebury College, and earned a Masterโ€™s in Energy Regulation and Law at Vermont Law School. A bicycle enthusiast, Ben has ridden across the United States and through much ofย Europe.

Related Posts

on

The new leader of the opposition has regularly criticised the UKโ€™s green ambitions.

The new leader of the opposition has regularly criticised the UKโ€™s green ambitions.
on

Lucy von Sturmer and Duncan Meisel are building communities of creatives dedicated to preventing the advertising and public relations industry from casting polluters as climate saviours.

Lucy von Sturmer and Duncan Meisel are building communities of creatives dedicated to preventing the advertising and public relations industry from casting polluters as climate saviours.
Opinion
on

It's time to come together to collectively work through the anxiety, grief and overwhelm so many of us are experiencing.

It's time to come together to collectively work through the anxiety, grief and overwhelm so many of us are experiencing.
on

UCP pledges to abandon the provinceโ€™s net zero targets, and remove the designation of CO2 as a pollutant.

UCP pledges to abandon the provinceโ€™s net zero targets, and remove the designation of CO2 as a pollutant.