Decision by Trump administration to end negotiations over California’s fuel-efficiency standards likely will go to court, delaying New Jersey’s own efforts to curb emissions
Tom Johnson reports for NJ Spotlight:
The Trump administration yesterday ended talks with California over the state’s stricter standards for fuel-efficient vehicles, jeopardizing New Jersey’s own efforts to curb climate-changing emissions from cars.
In a joint statement from the White House, Department of Transportation and the Environmental Protection Agency, the administration announced it was discontinuing discussions with the California Air Resources Board (CARB) on the issue and would move ahead with its own proposal on fuel economy and tailpipe emission standards.
The decision is likely to increase prospects the issue will wind up being decided by the courts where New Jersey and 20 other states already have challenged the administration’s rollback of an Obama-era rule to clamp down on carbon pollution from vehicles.
For New Jersey, that may mean delaying efforts to reduce the largest single source of greenhouse gas emissions — the transportation sector. New Jersey and other states have opted to follow California’s more stringent (than federal) fuel efficiency and tailpipe standards, a policy the EPA has threatened to revoke.
Blaming the Californians
In announcing the decision, the Trump administration blamed the California agency for not putting forward a “productive alternative’’ since it proposed its rule last year. The administration contended its proposal would save motorists hundreds of millions of dollars by lowering costs for new cars.
“Accordingly, the administration is moving forward to finalize a rule later this year with the goal of promoting safer, cleaner, and more affordable vehicles,’’ the statement said.
The action drew criticism from NESCAUM, an association of air-quality agencies from eight states in the Northeast, including New Jersey.
“Given the unmistakable evidence that impacts from a changing climate are worsening — from record-breaking heat waves, to mega-forest fires, to extreme hurricanes — walking back from what is effectively the federal government’s biggest climate mitigation program poses a real threat to public health and welfare,’’ said Paul Miller, executive director of NESCAUM.
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