U.S. House Will Review Justice Dept. Probe of Calif. Emissions Pact

Last week the U.S. Dept. of Justice launched an antitrust investigation into a deal between four carmakers—BMW, Ford, Honda and Volkswagen—and California on future emission limits.

Now the justiciary committee of the U.S. House of Representatives says it will hold hearings on the Justice Dept. probe, Reuters reports. Two Democrats on the panel condemn the DoJ’s action as “the latest in a profoundly troubling pattern of abuse of power” under the Trump administration.

In July, BMW, Ford, Honda and Volkswagen pledged to meet a tougher schedule of California fuel economy limits in 2021-2026 than the Trump administration will require. The plan is a compromise between the Obama-era standards currently in place and the White House’s aim to cancel those standards entirely and freeze regulations at 2020 levels.

The voluntary agreement is a pointed attempt by the four carmakers to coax California and federal regulators to adopt a single set of standards for the entire country. In announcing its investigation last week, DoJ told California the deal appears to be “unlawful and invalid.”

Carmakers hope to avoid dual standards, especially since a dozen other states have vowed to follow California’s air quality rules. The Trump administration called off compromise talks with California six months ago. Now it is finalizing a strategy that aims to strip the state of its power to set its own emission standards.