The EPA and the Trump Administration are now going the legal route in its bid to weaken fuel economy rules from the Obama-era.
In the latest salvo between California and eighteen states towards the Trump Administration, a lawsuit has been filed to reverse the EPA's stance on auto emissions standards.
According to its argument, the EPA violated the Administrative Procedure Act and Clean Air Act with its earlier decision to withdraw emissions standards for model year 2022-2025 vehicles. In all, the rollback would cut Obamas 54.5 average fuel economy mandate in half.
This contradicts California's long-standing efforts to battle eliminate change, with a Jan. 2018 executive order by Brown calling for a threefold increased in the number of zero-emission vehicles on the roads by 2025. The state also enjoys 50 percent of all hybrid and fuel cell vehicle sales in the nation.
The states joining today?s lawsuit represent 140 million people who simply want cleaner and more efficient cars. This phalanx of states will defend the nation?s clean car standards to boost gas mileage and curb toxic air pollution. ?https://t.co/6t4sHygNT5
— Jerry Brown (@JerryBrownGov) May 1, 2018
In a news conference last week, Calif. governor Jerry Brown did not mince words at EPA administrator Scott Pruitt.
"States representing 140 million Americans are getting together to sue Outlaw Pruitt - not Administrator Pruitt, but Outlaw Pruitt," Brown said. "This is about health, it's about life and death," he added.
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