California Open to Emission Law Review with Government, Industry

California’s Air Resources Board says it is ready to discuss auto industry concerns about fuel economy and emission rules through 2025—depending on the willingness of government and industry to agree to even tougher standards for 2030.

All three constituents are signaling a willingness to find a common solution that would maintain a single nationwide set of regulatory targets, Bloomberg News reports.

CARB has the authority to set its own emission standards. The agency has threatened to do just that if the Trump administration opts to roll back carbon dioxide and fuel economy targets set during the Obama administration.

But CARB Chair Mary Nichols tells Bloomberg News the state is ready to discuss “legitimate concerns” raised by carmakers about specific aspects of the current rules, which would hike fuel economy targets to 50 mpg by 2025. She envisions discussions that involve CARB, carmakers, the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

In March the Trump administration launched a fresh review of the 2025 standard. The effort is reexamining an analysis completed a few months earlier by the Obama administration that deemed the targets feasible and cost effective.

Carmakers applaud the reassessment. But they don’t want to create a split with California that could lead to a costly two-tier set of emission requirements in the U.S.

Nichols says California remains convinced there is “no need to initiate this new review of the review” of current standards. She contends that the earlier technical analysis was “fully adequate” to justify moving ahead with the current targets and deadlines.