Action comes in
response to Trump Administration effort to roll back federal rules
SACRAMENTO — In
response to the Trump Administration’s effort to weaken vehicle greenhouse gas emission
standards, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) today posted a proposal
to ensure that cars and light-duty trucks for model years 2021-2025 continue to
meet tough California standards that protect public health, save consumers money,
and fight climate change.
“Dirty,
gas guzzling vehicles are a direct
assault on public health, and foreclose our
ability to rein in air pollution and greenhouse gases,”
said CARB Chair Mary D. Nichols. “California will take all actions
to ensure that the smart standards we developed in
partnership with the auto industry to cut greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles stay in place.”
Under CARB’s existing regulation, adopted in 2012, cars
meeting federal standards for model years 2017-2025 are “deemed to comply” with
California standards. This provision had the benefit of creating a single
national program allowing automakers to meet one set of fleet-wide standards throughout
the nation, including in California and the 12 other states that have adopted
California standards. Last week, however, the Trump Administration proposed to
change the federal regulation and freeze vehicle greenhouse gas standards at
2020 levels.
The proposed amendment announced today would clarify California’s
existing regulation to ensure that if the U.S. EPA changes its standards, then automakers
wishing to sell cars in California after the 2020 model year would need to meet
California’s standards -- and not possibly weaker federal greenhouse gas
standards in the future. The “deemed-to-comply” provision was never meant to
allow a massive federal rollback to weaken public health protections in
California.
CARB is requesting public comments on its proposed
amendments. Specifically, CARB requests comments on potential flexibilities
that might allow for continued compliance with the federal standards, or reward
national actions to promote cleaner vehicles. The comment period begins on
August 10 and continues through September 24, 2018. The Board will consider the
proposal for adoption at its regular meeting on September 27-28, 2018.
“CARB remains
committed to a national program that fulfills our mission to protect public
health, welfare and the environment. That program is built on a robust
technical foundation and sound economic analysis,” said CARB Executive Officer
Richard Corey. “We continue to be open to discuss well documented technical
analysis that provides real public health, environmental, and economic benefits
including options that consider additional flexibilities.”
California impacts
The Trump Administration’s proposal would freeze the current
national requirements for model year 2021-2025 vehicles at 2020 emission
levels. If California were required to follow the federal rollback, global
warming emissions could increase by almost 14 million metric tons (MMT) per
year by 2025. That is roughly equivalent to putting an additional 2.8 million
cars on the state’s roads for a year. Air pollutants such as nitrogen oxides
(NOx) in the state could increase beyond 2020 levels by more than 3,600 tons
annually.
Californians are already living with severe impacts of
climate change in the form of increasingly frequent and severe wildfires,
extended drought, and rising sea levels, among other impacts. Additionally,
California continues to have the worst air pollution in the country with more
than 10 million people living in areas the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
has designated severe non-attainment zones for ozone. Ozone worsens symptoms of
asthma, heart disease, emphysema and other serious illnesses.
A half-century of
waivers and pollution reduction
California’s vehicle emissions rules predate the federal
Clean Air Act (CAA) and the creation of U.S. EPA. Due to the state’s severe air
quality problems, related public health threat and large number of vehicles, the
CAA preserved California’s rights to continue to set and enforce its own
vehicle emission standards that are stricter than federal standards.
California must request a waiver from U.S. EPA when its
standards differ. More than 100 waivers were issued over the past 50 years. The
stricter-than-federal standards approved under those waivers have been adopted
by other states, and typically, were later adopted by the federal government
once the significant public health and environmental benefits were clearly
demonstrated.
In addition to the public health and environmental benefits,
California’s vehicle emissions regulations save consumers millions of dollars
in fuel and maintenance costs and drive much of the creative innovation in the
auto industry toward zero-emission vehicles, including hybrid and plug-in
electric vehicles, and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles.
California is not
alone
Currently, 12 other states and the District of Columbia have
adopted California’s greenhouse gas emissions standards for vehicles. Colorado
is also in the process of adopting them. Together, those states constitute more
than one-third of the nation’s new car market.
In addition, eighteen states and the District of Columbia
filed suit in May after then-EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt issued a revised
Final Determination stating that the existing fuel economy and greenhouse gas
standards for model years 2022-2025 were not appropriate and needed to be
revised. This set the stage for last week’s proposal by the Trump
Administration to freeze the standards in 2020.
Notice of Public Hearing
Initial Statement of Reasons ("ISOR") - Staff Report
Appendix A - Proposed Regulation Order
Appendix B – Test Procedures
Appendix C – Rationale for Amendments
Appendix D – Standardized Regulatory Impact Assessment (SRIA) Equivalent Document
Appendix E - Department of Finance Comments
|
