This Wednesday, the EPA will unveil a plan to rescind California’s authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions in automobiles, according to a Bloomberg report. Sources close to the mater say the announcement will come from the EPA’s Washington, D.C. headquarters. The agency will reportedly revoke the state’s waiver to set its own greenhouse gas emissions standards.
The Clean Air Act of 1970 currently gives California the authority to set its own standards if the EPA grants a waiver. The agency did so under the Obama administration in 2009. Since then, the state has set more stringent emissions targets than that of the federal government. While other states can’t set their own standards, thirteen states and the District of Columbia signed on to California’s current targets. The markets under California’s rules comprise 36 percent of the U.S. auto market, according to a Politico piece.
If the EPA does revoke California’s waiver, the state has promised to fight the matter in court. It argues the agency does not have the authority to withdraw any waivers it grants. “We will be taking joint action with the Department of Transportation to bring clarity to the proper — and improper — scope and use of the Clean Air Act preemption waiver,” EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler said Tuesday at a National Automobile Dealers Association gathering.
The EPA’s decision to withdraw California’s waiver would, barring its defeat in the courts, return those thirteen states to federal emissions standards.
