US set to revive California clean car authority

President Joe Biden's administration is proposing to restore California's authority to set its own greenhouse gas standards for cars and trucks, in a first step of a plan to write tougher rules for the auto sector.

The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) today proposed to repeal a 2019 rule that said federal law pre-empted California's ability to set its own auto rules. The pre-emption was the first part of President Donald Trump's decision to weaken fuel-economy standards and sought to assure automakers they would only have to follow one set of rules.

But NHTSA says it now has "substantial doubts" it ever had pre-emption authority, and even if it did, it no longer believes the rule is warranted. The proposal will go through a 30-day comment period, putting the agency on track to rescind the rule and resolve litigation brought by California and other states as early as this summer.

"The transportation sector is the biggest contributor to greenhouse gases in our economy, which means it can and must be a big part of the climate solution," US transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg said.

NHTSA is separately with the US Environmental Protection Agency to jointly propose tougher fuel-economy and greenhouse gas rules for cars and pickup trucks by July, to replace Trump-era standards that would only require fuel-economy to climb by 1.5pc/yr. The replacement rules are expected to support Biden's efforts to encourage a switch toward electric vehicles.

"I see autoworkers building the next generation of electric vehicles, and electricians installing nationwide for 500,000 charging stations along our highways," Biden said today during a virtual summit focused on climate change.

Automakers had largely supported the pre-emption rule when it was drafted, but abandoned their defense when Biden was elected and outlined plans to switch toward electric vehicles. But the industry is pressuring Biden to set the revised fuel-economy targets midway between the 1.5pc/yr increase sought by Trump and the 5pc/yr increase set under former president Barack Obama.

Environmentalists cheered the Biden administration's plans to withdraw the pre-emption rule, which they say will encourage California to pursue new ideas such as its zero emission vehicle standard. "California has played a time-tested role in establishing standards that reduce the harmful pollution from cars and trucks," Environmental Defense Fund senior attorney Alice Henderson said.

By Chris Knight