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Republican-governed states are drawing on a nearly a decade-old
US Supreme Court ruling to attack Clean Air Act authority granted
to California, and upheld by federal regulation, to set more
stringent GHG standards for cars and pickup trucks.
Led by Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, a coalition of 17
Republican attorneys general are suing the US Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) for violating their equal sovereignty by
allowing California to set more stringent GHG emissions standards
than other states under its Advanced Clean Cars program.
The challenge was filed over EPA's 14 March rule that
essentially rescinded actions taken in 2019 by the prior
administration. These Trump administration actions include yanking
California's authority granted under the Clean Air Act to set more
stringent GHG standards and reinterpreting a related Clean Air Act
provision that barred states from adopting all or part of
California's clean cars program.
California remains a leader among states in pursuing clean
technologies to help the state, and thereby the US, reach its
net-zero emissions goals.
The lawsuit, which the attorneys general filed 13 May in the US
Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (DC Circuit),
draws on a 2013 US Supreme Court ruling involving a Voting Rights
Act case in Alabama's Shelby County. In that 5-4 decision, Chief
Justice John Roberts invoked the equal sovereignty principle to
determine that certain counties did not need special permission
from the federal government to make changes to their voting
laws.
California gets "special treatment"
In the suit, the attorneys general contend that "this special
treatment" granted under the Clean Air Act to California violates
the Constitution, which West Virginia Attorney General Patrick
Morrisey said creates a federalist framework in which all states
are equal and none is more equal than others.
"The [Clean Air] Act simply leaves California with a slice of
its sovereign authority that Congress withdraws from every other
state," Morrisey said. "The EPA cannot selectively waive the act's
pre-emption for California alone because that favoritism violates
the states' equal sovereignty."
Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, who joined in the
lawsuit, said auto manufacturing will become "astronomically
expensive" if California is able to set restrictive standards.
"The Trump administration understood that, and prohibited
California from setting its own oppressive standards," Schmitt said
in a 13 May statement. "The Biden administration has since repealed
the Trump order and given California the go-ahead to set 'green'
manufacturing standards, which in reality, crush the average
American who is already facing astronomical prices at the pump
because of the Biden administration's failed policies."
The average price of regular grade gasoline 16 May in the US was
$4.48/gallon, which automotive group AAA said is the highest on
record and about 32% higher than the year-ago price of $3.04/gal a
year ago.
Republicans targeting Biden climate
agenda
The EPA, which typically does not comment on pending litigation,
did not respond to a request for comment about the claims made by
the states.
A total of 17 states already have adopted California's Advanced
Clean Cars program, which the state is now proposing to update with more
stringent targets to increase the share of zero-emission vehicles
(ZEV).
Under the proposal, California would raise its ZEV mandate to
35% of new sales for 2026, up from the current requirement of 24%.
The mandate would reach 68% of new car sales in 2030 and 100% in
2035. Battery EVs, fuel cell EVs, and plug-in hybrid EVs would
qualify as ZEVs.
A smaller subset of the 17 states that includes Missouri also
have filed a challenge in the DC Circuit against EPA's revision of GHG emissions
standards for passenger cars and light trucks that the agency
finalized toward the end of 2021. The regulation revises current
GHG standards beginning with model year (MY) 2023 and increases in
stringency year over year through MY 2026, but with less
flexibility than was originally proposed.
Republican states also are involved in challenging the EPA's
authority to regulate GHGs from coal-fired power plants in the
Supreme Court, which heard arguments in late February and
is expected to issue its ruling any day.
Posted 16 May 2022 by Amena Saiyid, Senior Climate and Energy Research Analyst
This article was published by S&P Global Commodity Insights and not by S&P Global Ratings, which is a separately managed division of S&P Global.
