GM backs state to set clean air standards

DETROIT — General Motors says it will no longer support the Trump administration in legal efforts to end California’s right to set its own cleanair standards.

CEO Mary Barra said in a letter Monday to environmental groups that GM will pull out of the lawsuit, and it urges other automakers to do so.

She said the company agrees with President-elect Joe Biden’s plan to expand electric vehicle use. Last week, GM said it is testing a new battery chemistry that will bring electric-vehicle costs down to those of gas- powered vehicles within five years.

Barra sent the letter after a Monday morning conversation with Mary Nichols, head of California’s Air Resources Board, the company said. The board is the state’s air pollution regulator.

“We believe the ambitious electrification goals of the President- elect, California, and General Motors are aligned, to address climate change by drastically reducing automobile emissions,” Barra said in the letter.

Nichols called GM’s announcement good news. “I was pleased to be in communication with Mary Barra again,” she said. “It’s been a while since we had talked.”

Dan Becker of the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the environmental groups Barra wrote to, said GM was wrong in trying to stop California from protecting its people from auto pollution.

“Now the other automakers must follow GM and withdraw support for ( President Donald) Trump’s attack on clean cars,” he said in an email.

The White House had no immediate comment Monday.

Ron Klain, Biden’s incoming chief of staff, wrote on Twitter that he is glad to see the president-elect’s leadership “is already encouraging progress.”