The Golden State — which has long dealt with smoggy skies — often sets environmental policy other states eventually follow

By Dino Grandoni Washington Post

The Biden administration is expected to restore California’s authority to set its own limits on climate-warming emissions from cars, pickups, and SUVs.

Long an environmental leader among states, California often sets a precedent that the rest of the country follows. But when it came to combating climate change, the Trump administration hamstrung the Golden State by stripping it of the right to set its own rules around carbon pollution for the thousands of cars cramming the state’s freeways.

Now, the Biden administration is preparing to undo that Trump-era decision. And the reversal will resonate beyond California to the whole nation’s transportation sector.

What exactly is the Environmental Protection Agency doing?

Federal officials are preparing to restore a “waiver” to regulators in California, giving them the ability to set standards tougher than those from the federal government for the carbon dioxide that spews out of automobile tailpipes, according to two people familiar with the decision who spoke on the condition of anonymity ahead of the agency’s announcement.

Normally, it’s up to the federal government to cut pollution from gasoline-guzzling vehicles. Those mobile sources of emissions, after all, can cross state lines and taint the air no matter where they are made or sold.

But the law treats the country’s most populous state differently. Under the Clean Air Act, California — and California alone — can request permission from the federal government to write its own tailpipe standards if it can provide a compelling reason for doing so. More than a dozen other states have committed to following California’s lead on greenhouse gas pollution from cars.

EPA spokesman Nick Conger said the agency will announce its decision on the California waiver “in the near future.” E&E News first reported that the announcement is coming soon.

Why can California set its own rules?

In the middle of the 20th century, the skies in Los Angeles were once so polluted that, on some days, it was difficult to see even a few blocks ahead. During bad episodes, Californians complained of burning eyes and upset stomachs.

Fires, floods and free parking: California’s unending fight against climate change

California regulators realized the cars clogging its burgeoning roadways were the reason for the smog. The state sprang into action, developing the country’s first vehicle emissions standards for smog-forming pollutants in 1966.

When federal lawmakers sat down to strengthen the Clean Air Act four years later, they decided to allow California to continue writing its own rules for cars. Over time, the decision has helped spur innovation in the auto sector. Catalytic converters, “check engine” lights and other ideas born out of California’s regulatory system have been adopted in cars sold nationwide.

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