California’s auto limits said to be EPA target
Rollback of state’s power set for today
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s administration is expected today to revoke California’s authority to set auto mileage standards, asserting that only the federal government has the power to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and fuel economy.
The formal rollback of California’s authority will be announced this afternoon at the Washington headquarters of the Environmental Protection Agency, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The move comes after the Justice Department recently opened an antitrust investigation into a deal between California and four automakers for tougher requirements on pollution and mileage than those sought by Trump. The president also has sought to relax Barack Obama-era mileage standards nationwide.
Top California officials and environmental groups pledged legal action to stop the rollback of the state’s authority.
Gloria Bergquist, spokeswoman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, said Tuesday that her group was among those invited to the event featuring EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler
and Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao.
The White House declined to comment Tuesday, referring questions to the EPA. The agency’s press office did not respond to a phone message and email seeking comment.
But Wheeler told the National Automobile Dealers Association on Tuesday that the Trump administration would move “in the very near future” to take steps toward establishing one nationwide set of fuel-economy standards.
“We embrace federalism and the role of the states, but federalism does not mean that one state can dictate standards for the nation,” he said, adding that higher fuel-economy standards would hurt consumers by increasing the average sticker price of new cars and requiring automakers to produce more electric vehicles.
Word of the pending announcement came as Trump traveled to California on Tuesday for an overnight trip that included GOP fundraising events near San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego.
The administration’s plan could set off legal battles that might eventually land at the U.S. Supreme Court. The move affects not only California but also 13 other states and the District of Columbia, which follow California’s emissions regulations.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom called the administration’s plan part of a “political vendetta” against the state. “California won’t ever wait for permission from Washington to protect the health and safety of children and families,” said Newsom, a Democrat.
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said the Trump administration had “no basis and no authority” for its action.
California’s special authority to go further than the federal government in regulating auto pollution dates back to the 1960s, when Los Angeles was enveloped in a thick layer of smog that state officials came to see as a public health crisis. By the time the 1970 federal Clean Air Act took effect, the state had already enacted its own tailpipe emission controls.
Concerned that each state would pass different regulations, Congress decided that the EPA would set vehicle pollution standards for the nation. But it carved out an exception for California, saying that the EPA would be required to grant the state a waiver to set its own rules, provided they were at least as stringent as the federal ones. Other states could choose to follow either California’s regulations or those set by the EPA.
The state has long pushed automakers to adopt more fuel-efficient passenger vehicles. Emissions standards are closely linked with fuel-economy requirements because vehicles pollute less if they burn fewer gallons of fuel.
The effort to end California’s authority comes a few months after the state spurned the White House by secretly negotiating a deal with four major automakers. As part of the pact, the car manufacturers — Ford, Honda, Volkswagen and BMW — agreed to voluntarily abide by California’s rules and increase fuel efficiency and reduce emissions, essentially ignoring the Trump administration’s plans to freeze mileage standards for their vehicles at roughly 37 miles per gallon from 2020 to 2026.
The standards under Obama’s administration would have required those fleets to average nearly 51 mpg by model year 2025.
“Crazy!” the president tweeted in response to news of California’s deal with the automakers. “The Legendary Henry Ford and Alfred P. Sloan, the Founders of Ford Motor Company and General Motors, are ‘rolling over’ at the weakness of current car company executives,” he wrote.
The four automakers agreed with California to reduce emissions by 3.7% per year starting with the 2022 model year, through 2026. That compares with 4.7% yearly reductions through 2025 under the Obama standards.
The U.S. transportation sector is the nation’s biggest single source of planet-warming greenhouse gasses.
Further escalating tensions between the state and the Trump administration, the Justice Department launched its antitrust investigation into whether the automakers that reached the voluntary emissions agreement with the state violated federal competition law.
Information for this article was contributed by Michael Biesecker and Adam Beam of The Associated Press, by Anna M. Phillips of the Los Angeles Times, by Juliet Eilperin and Brady Dennis of The Washington Post, and by Coral Davenport of The New York Times.