EPA targets California vehicle GHG standards

The administration of US president Donald Trump is taking aim at one of California main tools for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector.

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today proposed revoking a Clean Air Act waiver for the state's CO2 standards for new cars and trucks as part of a plan to freeze federal fuel economy and emissions standards for seven years. EPA says California has not satisfied the legal requirements for the waiver, such as showing a "compelling and extraordinary" need for the regulations.

"We are talking about greenhouse gases not the conventional pollutants that cause smog in Los Angeles," EPA assistant administrator for air and radiation Bill Wehrum said. "There is nothing about how greenhouse gases and potential climate change affects California that is any different than any other state."

In addition, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said federal law preempts California from setting what are effectively fuel economy standards, as the primary way to reduce motor vehicle CO2 emissions is by making cars and trucks more efficient.

The agencies say the move is needed to maintain a single national standard. With the waiver in effect, California's regulations would become more stringent than the federal standards after 2020, when the proposed freeze would begin. It would run through model year 2026.

California and its allies, including 18 state attorneys general, wasted little time in threatening to take EPA to court to protect the waiver, which has allowed a dozen states to adopt the same regulations.

"California will fight this stupidity in every conceivable way possible," governor Jerry Brown (D) said.

The Clean Air Act gives California the ability to set its own motor vehicle emissions standards, subject to a waiver from EPA, a recognition of its decades-long efforts to improve air quality in Los Angeles and other parts of the state. Other states can then choose to adopt those standards.

EPA rarely rejects the waivers. It last did so in 2007 after the state proposed its first motor vehicle CO2 rules. California challenged that decision in court, but dropped its lawsuit after president Barack Obama took office in 2009 and EPA reversed course. Today's proposal would rescind a waiver EPA approved in 2013 after it finalized the current federal rules, which cover model years 2017-2025.

Those standards aim to achieve fuel efficiency equivalent to an average 54.5 miles/USG. The freeze would have them top out at 37 miles/USG in 2020.

California considers the standards be a key part of its efforts to reduce GHG emissions. The transportation accounts for 41pc of the state's emissions, with most of that coming from passenger vehicles. That share has increased in recent years as emissions from other sources have fallen significantly, while transportation GHGs have almost rebounded to pre-recession levels.

EPA under Obama estimated the federal rules would reduce US GHG emissions by 2bn metric tonnes over the lifetime of the vehicles sold in 2017-2025. EPA today said the freeze would take back about 876mn t of that reduction, equal to about an eighth of total US emissions in 2016.

California already has some court rulings on its side. Federal judges in California and Vermont in 2007 upheld the state standards over the objections of the auto industry, which had argued federal law preempted the regulations. Those rulings came just months after the US Supreme Court said EPA has the authority under the Clean Air Act to regulate motor vehicle CO2.

NHTSA believes both decisions were incorrect.

"NHTSA was not a party to those cases and is not bound by these decisions," the agency said.

Wehrum said EPA and California will soon return to the negotiating table to see if they can find a way to avoid a court fight. Automakers have urged each side to reach an agreement to preserve a single US market for their vehicles.