Trump Ponders Rejected Legal Strategy to Curb Calif. Emission Rules

Federal regulatory agencies are preparing a legal argument to rein in California’s ability to write its own vehicle emission rules that has been rejected before by federal appellate courts, Bloomberg News reports.

California was granted the power to set separate pollution standards by the Clean Air Act nearly 50 years ago. But a joint proposal being developed by the Environmental Protection Agency and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration argues that a newer law—the 1975 Energy Policy and Conservation Act—overrules California’s exemption as it applies to carbon dioxide emissions.

The 1975 measure specifically prohibits states from setting their own fuel economy standards. The Trump administration plans to argue that allowing California to regulate CO₂ violates that limitation. That’s because curbing CO₂ also impacts fuel consumption, since CO₂ is a byproduct of burning hydrocarbon fuels.

The connection between the two has pushed the EPA, which sets national emissions standards, and NHTSA, which sets federal fuel economy standards, to coordinate their respective regulations.

Legal experts note that an effort by the George W. Bush administration to invoke the 1975 law to end California’s exemption was rejected in 2007 by federal courts in California and Vermont. Those rulings cited a U.S. Supreme Court decision that the Clean Air Act gives the EPA the right to regulate CO₂ and concludes that regulating emissions and fuel economy are separate activities.