Colorado To Challenge Trump Admin Rollback Of Clean Car Standards

DENVER — State Attorney General Phil Weiser released the following statement regarding the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) release of a new rule that rollsback fuel economy standards for the nation's cars and trucks. By lowering the standards currently in place the EPA threatens to undermine the progress states have made with car manufacturers to improve air quality and protect the public’s health.

“The administration’s rollback of clean car standards will harm public health and air quality. It rejects science, innovation, and the American problem-solving spirit, leaving America to trail the world in this important frontier.

“The EPA’s misguided rollback is at odds with the agency’s own science and data, which show that the weaker fuel economy standards will increase air pollution, cost consumers more at the pump, and fail to make the nation’s roads safer.

“Additionally, the EPA rollback is at odds with some automakers that support annual increases in fuel economy standards to meet the national demand for affordable, low-emission and zero-emission vehicles (ZEV) to combat air pollution and climate change.

“The administration’s rollback also is an attack on the Clean Air Act and the authority of states, like Colorado, to adopt stronger tailpipe pollution limits than those set by the federal government. The EPA’s move threatens to thwart Colorado’s ZEV program, which was implemented to improve air quality, reduce harmful ozone pollution, decrease fuel costs, and increase choices that Colorado customers have when purchasing an electric vehicle.

“Protecting our land, air, and water is one of my top priorities, and the State will challenge the federal government’s rollback of our clean car standards. I will continue to fight for clean air and public health in Colorado.”

The fight to preserve the Clean Car Standards and Clean Air Act has been ongoing throughout the Trump Administration’s tenure. In September 2018 attorneys general from across the country testified at public hearings in defense of the nation’s existing Clean Car Standards. And in October 2018 attorneys general from 25 states and cities submitted comments detailing numerous, fundamental flaws with the Trump Administration’s rollback proposal and demanding they be withdrawn. The EPA's published rule shows these arguments have been ignored.

Writing in the New York Times, noted environmental journalist Coral Davenport suggested the rollback would have serious implications for the fight against global warming. American cars, she wrote, would now be allowed to emit a billion tons more carbon dioxide than under previous standards, and hundreds of millions of tons more than will be emitted under standards being implemented in Europe and Asia.

It remains to be seen whether legal challenges can be mounted by states to overturn the EPA decision.