“The Trump Administration tried to block decades of progress because it refused to accept science. It’s time to relegate that administration and its policies to the compost bin of history.”
SAN FRANCISCO (June 11, 2021) – City Attorney Dennis Herrera today joined a coalition of 22 attorneys general and the cities of Oakland, Los Angeles and San Jose in urging the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration to repeal a Trump-era rule, known as the “Preemption Rule,” that purported to preempt California’s greenhouse gas and zero-emission-vehicles standards. California’s standards have been adopted by states representing more than one-third of the U.S. automobile market and have resulted in emissions reductions of hundreds of thousands of tons annually. In their letter, the coalition argues that NHTSA lacked authority under the Energy Policy and Conservation Act to promulgate the Preemption Rule and that the rule must be repealed.
“Vehicle emissions are a major cause of global warming,” Herrera said. “We need more protections like California’s standards to slow emissions and climate change. It’s vital that we continue to preserve our environment and protect public health to create a cleaner future for generations to come. The Trump Administration tried to block decades of progress because it refused to accept science. It’s time to relegate that administration and its policies to the compost bin of history.”
California’s greenhouse gas and zero-emission-vehicles standards are critical to the fight against climate change, for improving air quality and protecting public health, and for driving technological innovation. Fifty years of experience has shown that the adoption of vehicle emissions standards not only reduces vehicular pollution in the present but drives the development and deployment of technologies that enable further cost-effective emission reductions in the future.
In the comment letter, the coalition argues that National Highway Transportation Safety Administration must repeal the Preemption Rule because the NHTSA lacked authority to promulgate it in the first place and should do so for the additional reason that the rule was an unprecedented and unwarranted attack on longstanding state laws central to states’ efforts to protect their residents from the harmful effects of air pollution and climate change.
City Attorney Herrera joins California Attorney General Rob Bonta and the California Air Resources Board, as well as the attorneys general of Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia as well as the city attorneys of Oakland, Los Angeles and San Jose, in filing the comment letter.
A copy of the comment letter can be found here.
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