Could be the big winner........

Why California could be the big winner as EPA abandons climate policy

The federal government is walking away from its tailpipe emissions rules, sparking a legal debate over whether states can now write their own standards.

By Alex Nieves

The Trump administration just tore apart decades of U.S. climate policy, but it may have also handed California its golden ticket.

EPA’s decision last week to nix the so-called endangerment finding — the Obama-era ruling that underpinned the federal government’s authority to develop climate policy — gives car and truck makers free rein to build models without consideration of greenhouse gases.

That’s a major blow for California Democrats and Gov. Gavin Newsom, who’ve hitched their climate ambitions to manufacturers offering more electric vehicles and to drivers adopting the still-maturing technology en masse. (The transportation sector accounts for roughly half of California’s carbon emissions, state officials estimate.)

The move tees up a conservative Supreme Court to overturn its 2007 decision affirming EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gases. While unwinding Massachusetts v. EPA would represent a monumental reversal of U.S. policy, some legal experts argue it could hand state regulators newfound power to fill the void.

That’s because states are preempted from setting their own tailpipe standards — a restriction that becomes hard to defend if the federal government bows out of the emissions game.

“If that happens, then EPA lacks any authority to issue standards, including under a new administration,” said Ann Carlson, who led the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration under former President Joe Biden. “That would leave states as the natural locus for regulatory power.”

That would be paradigm shifting for California air regulators, who in June watched congressional Republicans revoke the EPA waiver that gave the state power to set stricter-than-federal tailpipe rules. A world without the endangerment finding could make the politically fraught task of seeking federal approval a hurdle of the past.

Trump’s EPA is trying to head off that legal reasoning. The agency’s official repeal argues that states are still preempted from developing laws or regulations that “adopt or attempt to enforce any standard relating to the control of emissions from new motor vehicles or engines.”

“These ‘legal experts’ should read the Clean Air Act before engaging in scare tactics designed to perpetuate unlawful regulations,” EPA spokespeople said in a statement Tuesday.

The question is whether that language would hold up to judicial scrutiny. Carlson said nothing is certain given the makeup of the Supreme Court, but California has a fighting chance.

“The federal government is trying to argue that states are preempted, but they’re also arguing that the Clean Air Act doesn’t give them the power to regulate greenhouse gases from cars and trucks,” Carlson said. “That seems like an argument that is inconsistent on its face.”

The question now is whether California and the blue states that have historically followed its lead on auto policy will put the legal theory to the test.

Newsom and state air regulators aren’t talking about the go-it-alone tactic as an option yet. Spokespeople for Newsom’s office declined to answer whether his administration is exploring the idea, instead pointing to the governor’s statement last week that California will sue to stop the endangerment finding rollback.

But prominent state lawmakers say the strategy is already being discussed inside the Capitol.

“Absolutely, this has been the topic of conversation,” Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris, chair of the Utilities and Energy Committee, said during a press briefing last week. “There is, I think, a certain irony that in the revocation of the endangerment finding, it actually could provide California with more latitude and more direct responsibility.”

“Yes, this is definitely a conversation, so stay tuned,” she added.

That’s a debate the auto industry wants to avoid. While major car companies lobbied Congress to revoke California’s EV sales mandate last year, they stopped short of advocating against the endangerment finding and didn’t explicitly praise the repeal last week.

“The auto industry in America remains focused on preserving vehicle choice for consumers, keeping the industry competitive, and staying on a long-term path of emissions reductions and cleaner vehicles,” said John Bozzella, president and CEO of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which represents most major automakers.

The auto industry — which has long advocated for unified regulations across the United States — now could face a scenario where it’s not only easier for California to issue tailpipe rules, but states like New York or Illinois could also create their own patchwork of standards.

“They got more than what they asked for,” said Stephanie Valdez Streaty, director of industry insights for Cox Automotive.