The Trump administration will propose a plan to freeze emissions standards at 2020 levels while blocking the release of California’s law to set emission standards stricter than those set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), according to the Three sources spoke to Bloomberg.
News of the Trump administration’s plan leaked in late May, but Bloomberg spoke to people who have seen the plans recently. The proposed revision of emission standards is not expected to change significantly.
The Trump administration’s EPA has spent the past year and a half laying the groundwork to change the emissions standards finalized by the Obama administration’s EPA during President Obama’s final month in office, even though the rules have been years in the making. Obama’s plan would have required automakers to build more fuel-efficient cars every few years until 2025.
The Trump administration’s plan remains on the Obama-era schedule until 2020, but after that, the oil economy will not continue to tighten.
In addition, the Trump administration plans to revoke the exemption granted by the EPA in California in the 1970s, which allowed the California Air Resource Board (CARB) to set its own emission standards, even if they were stricter than those of the federal government. . The release comes at a time when California suffers some of the worst smog problems in the country.
Trump’s move could also strip California of its powers to set electric vehicle quotas within the state.
However, 16 other states have decided to follow California’s emissions directive, so it’s likely that any attempt to remove California’s exemption and replace it with a weaker law will result in legal challenges from all the states that want the vehicle together. a pollution-free cruise ship. .
Bloomberg reports that the National Highway Transportation Administration (NHTSA), which sets a parallel set of emission rules for passenger cars, will also deny California the opportunity to set its own standards.
Once the agencies formally present the proposal, the public will have an opportunity to weigh in, with those comments used to develop a final rule that could be implemented as soon as the end of the year.” Bloomberg.
Update: In a statement to Ars, CARB noted that it cannot comment until it has seen the final proposal.