Colorado joins fight to retain emissions standards

WASHINGTON — As the Trump administration moves to roll back ambitious vehicle emissions targets, California and several other states that rely on those standards to achieve their clean air goals have enlisted an influential new partner in the fight to keep the rules intact.

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper announced Tuesday that his state planned to join a dozen others that will refuse to go along with any rollback. Instead, it will join the other states in invoking a provision under the Clean Air Act that allows them to follow California in continuing to pursue the aggressive goals set during the Obama administration. Those goals aim to have cars and SUVs rolling onto showroom floors averaging 55 miles per gallon by 2025.

Colorado’s move intensifies the fight between the states and the administration, which is positioning to strip California of its authority to set emissions rules that are tougher than those imposed by the Environmental Protection Agency.

California and the other states say any attempt by the administration to block them from keeping the Obama-era targets would be illegal. Colorado promises to be a potent ally in that fight. The state is politically influential, and it also now will become the first state in the nation’s interior to embrace the tailpipe emissions crusade.

Colorado officials say they are aligning with California because Colorado is uniquely vulnerable to air pollution because of its topography.