Automakers go around Trump to strike deal with California to make cleaner cars

by Josh Siegel
| July 25, 2019 10:37 AM

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Four leading automakers announced Thursday that they struck a deal with California to produce more fuel-efficient cars, in a pushback against President Trump’s attempt to weaken standards nationwide.

The Trump administration is preparing to roll back strict vehicle pollution standards implemented by the Obama administration and to revoke the right of states like California to set their own tougher rules.

Ford, Honda, VW, and BMW, however, are rejecting the Trump administration plan by secretly striking a deal with California, the nation’s leading auto market, to voluntarily agree to make higher efficiency cars that emit less greenhouse gases. The automakers said all the cars they sell in the U.S. — not just in California — would follow these stricter standards. And they encouraged other automakers to adopt the terms of the agreement with California as well.

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"These terms will provide our companies much-needed regulatory certainty by allowing us to meet both federal and state requirements with a single national fleet, avoiding a patchwork of regulations while continuing to ensure meaningful greenhouse gas emissions reductions," the automakers said in a statement.

U.S. automakers have pleaded with the Trump administration to stop it from dramatically weakening Obama-era fuel efficiency standards, warning doing so would bring “untenable” uncertainty and lead to drawn-out litigation.

Michael Abboud, a spokesman for the Environmental Protection Agency, said the administration does not plan to change course because of the new agreement between automakers and California.

"This voluntary framework is a PR stunt that does nothing to further the one national standard that will provide certainty and relief for American consumers," Abboud said.

The EPA, with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, last August proposed freezing Obama-era fuel efficiency rules for cars and light trucks, instead of raising them each year, between model years 2020 and 2026. It is expected to finalize the rule in the coming months.

The Trump administration has also proposed revoking a Clean Air Act waiver that California has, and more than a dozen other states follow, allowing it to set vehicle emission standards tougher than federal rules.

California, with more than a dozen other states, had been poised to sue the administration in order to enforce stricter auto pollution rules to limit carbon emissions from transportation, the highest-emitting economic sector.

Under the terms of the new deal with California, the four automakers agreed to annual increases in efficiency for the vehicles they produce of 3.7% per year, still less than than the 4.7% annual increase sought by the Obama administration rules.

“I now call on the rest of the auto industry to join us, and for the Trump administration to adopt this pragmatic compromise instead of pursuing its regressive rule change,” said California governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat. “It’s the right thing for our economy, our people and our planet.”

It’s unclear if California will still try to sue the Trump administration if it moves forward with revoking states’ authority to set their own rules.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/p...e-cleaner-cars