Gov. Jerry Brown on Tuesday, May 1, announced a lawsuit by California and 17 other states against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to protect national vehicle carbon emission standards from being rolled back by the federal government. The suit takes aim at a plan by the EPA to revise emission standards for vehicles manufactured between 2022 and 2025.
“My message to the EPA and Administrator Pruitt is simple: Do your job. Regulate carbon pollution from vehicles,” California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said at the press conference Tuesday.
Lawsuit takes aim at plan by the EPA to rollback emission standards for vehicles.
Mary Nichols, chair of the California Air Resources Board, was slated to speak at ACT Expo on Tuesday morning as part of the Global Trends Accelerating Advanced Transportation Innovation panel. She had to cancel at the last minute due to her involvement in the Tuesday press conference announcing the lawsuit. She sent Analisa Bevan, an assistant division chief at CARB, as her replacement, who read Nichol’s press conference comments to the ACT Expo audience, followed by a loud round of applause for California’s continued leadership in protecting air quality at a national level. In keeping with the theme of the panel, moderator Cliff Gladstein asked panelists from Cummins, Honda, Navistar, and UPS how their businesses might be impacted by the potential rollback of the emission standards. The representatives from each company agreed the best path forward is a united one, and reconfirmed their organizations commitment to innovation and progress.
The lawsuit was filed in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Joining California are Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia and the District of Columbia.
