Skip to Content
Streetsblog California home
Streetsblog California home
Log In
CA Air Resources Board (CARB)

California Sues to Defend Auto Emission Rules

What the Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards could achieve, if they were allowed to do their job. Image from the old Whitehouse.gov (archived)

Donald Trump's promise to roll back “industry-killing regulations” and “job-crushing taxes” on the auto industry, in concert with a suit from the Automobile Manufacturers against new fuel efficiency standards, got a strong rebuke from California Governor Jerry Brown. In a letter to US Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt, Brown didn't mince words:

“President Trump’s decision today to weaken emission standards in cars is an unconscionable gift to polluters. Once again, you’ve put the interests of big oil ahead of clean air and politics ahead of science,” he wrote.

Despite automaker's charge that the standards are too difficult for them to meet, wrote Brown, research shows the opposite is true. He attached several reports backing up his claim.

Also, he wrote, the US EPA's own analysis showed that the new standards would:

  • Save consumers more than $1,650 per vehicle.
  • Reduce oil consumption by nearly 40 billion gallons of refined gasoline and diesel fuel.
  • Decrease greenhouse gas emissions by 540 million metric tons.

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra also filed a motion in federal court to block a suit filed Monday by the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers that claimed the new standards for 2025, originally adopted in 2012, were too hard for them to meet.

“Your action to weaken vehicle pollution standards – standards your own members agreed to – breaks your promise to the American people,” wrote Brown in a separate letter.

Advances in fuel efficiency technology have worked for everyone. They have saved Americans money at the pump, cut oil consumption, reduced air pollution and helped fight climate change. Putting this progress at risk is reckless. Your actions could . . . increase our dependence on foreign oil.

Brown made it clear that California won't sit back and watch the standards be degraded from the sidelines. “Please be advised that California will take the necessary steps to preserve the current standards and protect the health of our people and the stability of our climate,” he wrote.

The EPA standards under threat from Trump and the automakers' suit are the same ones in force in California. They were formulated with significant input from the EPA, California's Air Resources Board, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and the automakers themselves.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog California

Covina to Begin Construction on Recreation Village

The new facility will be next to the Metrolink station and include a variety of opportunities for fitness and amusement

July 26, 2024

Talking Headways Podcast: Have Cities Run Out of Land?

Chris Redfearn of USC and Anthony Orlando of Cal Poly Pomona on why "pro-business" Texas housing markets are catching up to "pro-regulation" California and what it might mean for future city growth.

July 26, 2024

Friday’s Headlines

Oakland identifies sites for speed camera pilot; E-bike tariffs conflict with US climate policy; Pollution spikes around warehouses, shipping hubs; More

July 26, 2024

What the Heck is Going on with the State E-bike Incentive Program?

The program's launch has been delayed for two years, and currently "there is no specific timeline" for it. Plus the administrator, Pedal Ahead, is getting dragged, but details are vague

July 26, 2024

The Paris Plan for Olympic Traffic? Build More Bike Lanes

A push to make Paris fully bikable for the Olympics is already paying dividends long before the opening ceremonies.

July 25, 2024
See all posts