More than a dozen state attorneys general sent a letter Thursday to the head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Scott Pruitt, vowing to put up a legal fight if the agency relaxes federal vehicle-emissions standards.
The state officials were responding to a May letter sent by Pruitt to Democratic California Gov. Jerry Brown, in which Brown argued the Obama administration prematurely closed its midterm emissions standards review, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The EPA closed the midterm review and locked in standards requiring car companies to produce vehicles averaging 54.5 miles a gallon by 2025, roughly one week prior to President Donald Trump’s election.
Many of the attorneys general who signed the letter represent states that follow strict tail pipe emission standards set by California under a waiver from the EPA. Brown told Pruitt in a March letter that his state would take all “necessary actions to preserve current standards” in response to the Trump administration’s reopening of the emissions standard review.
The attorneys general who wrote Pruitt said they planned on adopting California’s tougher emission standards, but some are concerned the EPA might revoke California’s waiver in an effort to prevent individual states from setting tougher emission standards than those imposed by the feds.
“If you seek to roll back these important standards, we intend to pursue appropriate legal action to defend them in court,” the attorneys general wrote to Mr. Pruitt, adding that if the EPA “acts to weaken or delay the current standards for model years 2022-25, like California, we intend to vigorously pursue appropriate legal remedies to block such action.”
An EPA spokesperson said the agency is “reviewing the letter.”
Automakers have criticized the Obama-era emission standards, pointing out that cheap gas prices have driven consumers toward gas guzzling pick up trucks and SUVs, which together now account for 60 percent of U.S. auto sales. The demand for these fuel inefficient vehicles has made it difficult to sell electric cars and expensive cleaner technologies that will be needed to meet the 2025 standards. However, automakers can meet future emission standards by converting 7 percent of vehicles they produce to electric power, according to California regulators .
The signatories of Thursday’s letter include attorneys general in Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington state and Washington, D.C. and the head of Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection.
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