In conclusion
State agencies are proposing policies that require consistent financing, legislative action, or protracted rulemaking amid a legal battle over California’s authority to regulate pollution from cars and trucks.
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In response to the Trump Administration’s criticism of California’s climate policy, regulators in the state plan to retaliate in part by urging lawmakers to increase private investment, writing clean car regulations once more, and requesting that lawmakers backfill electric vehicle incentives.
“Every American’s health is at risk due to the siege of clean air efforts,” said Liane Randolph, head of the Air Resources Board. California is fighting back and isn’t going to give up on improving public health and air quality. We have a moral and legal duty.
In response to Governor Gavin Newsom’s June executive order urging California to intensify its efforts to move away from fossil fuels, a number of state agencies jointly issued the suggestions.
Restoring carpool lane access, which would require federal permission, and reinstating expired federal EV tax credits—a difficult request in a year with a short budget—are other proposals that were announced Tuesday. One suggestion aims to increase access to vehicle charging by simplifying licenses for new stations and expediting utility hookups.
Only two regulatory proposals are being advanced by the Air Board: one to reduce diesel pollution from freight hubs like ports and warehouses, and another to strengthen consumer safeguards for owners of clean cars. The board will start working on a new clean cars rule, Randolph added.
The governor would examine the agencies’ report, according to a representative for the governor.
Guillermo Ortiz, senior clean vehicles advocate for the Natural Resources Defense Council, said the proposals reflect the difficult transition the state has undergone from a pro-Biden government to a hostile one under President Trump.
How can you see every attack angle, every vector, and everything this administration is ready to do to hurt California when your federal government is employing every weapon at its disposal to target your own state? “I said.” That’s challenging.
According to some analysts, they had higher expectations. According to a review of the plan by Earthjustice lawyer Adrian Martinez, people who are accustomed to this type of policy will read it and be disappointed.
Daniel Sperling, the director of the Institute for Transportation Studies at UC Davis and a former member of the Air Resources Board, stated, “I don’t see anything that strikes me as being particularly aggressive.” genuinely, I’m perplexed since they had given the impression that they were genuinely going to accomplish something important.
Trucking deal collapses
Following the Trump Administration’s announcement that it would revoke federal permits granted under the Clean Air Act that have long permitted the state to impose stricter car and truck regulations, California offered the remedies as a backup.
The Clean Truck Partnership, a voluntary agreement between the state and key truck manufacturers that would continue to advance zero emission truck technology even if the waiver programs failed, was the focus of last week’s intensified attacks on the state’s climate policy.
Four manufacturers filed a lawsuit last week in an attempt to terminate their cooperation obligations. Following an inquiry into California’s scheme, the Federal Trade Commission ruled that the partnership was unenforceable.
Trump’s Justice Department intervened in two lawsuits a few days later, claiming that the federal government should have the last say over whether to outlaw internal combustion engines in heavy-duty trucks.
According to Ortiz of the Natural Resources Defense Council, neighborhoods close to ports, warehouses, and railyards—where diesel pollution suffocates the air—are the areas where California’s climate policies are most important. In addition to causing respiratory and cardiac conditions, truck exhaust is a significant cause of cancer risk.
According to experts, the shift to less polluting trucks may stall if there is no power to enact strict regulations or robust voluntary initiatives like the Clean Truck Partnership.
A call for bolder action
The state has more power than its legislative and executive departments are utilizing, according to experts who advocated for more aggressive measures.
Sperling said that a feebate program, which would impose fees on high-polluting automobiles to fund clean-car refunds, might be a better way for the state to discourage gas-powered vehicles.
“I think really supercharging those programs to advance transportation electrification could be a massively successful strategy if you really want to put your money where your mouth is,” said Martinez, who leads Earthjustice’s campaign in that direction.
According to Martinez, the state might better organize its current initiatives, such as the Cap and Trade program and the Low Carbon Fuel Standard, to finance the purchase of electric vehicles and trucks.
He went on to say that California shouldn’t back down from the Trump Administration’s tough actions.
A statewide rule that tightens controls at warehouses and other pollution traps might accomplish comparable goals to the truck mandates, according to Ethan Elkind, director of the climate program at UC Berkeley’s Center for Law, Energy, and the Environment.
Elkind has lobbied for more in the past. California might eventually fill the void left by the federal government’s decision to step back from climate policy and tailpipe emissions regulation, he noted.
He went on to say that the state may adopt a really forceful strategy in this case.
Although she acknowledged that it might take some time to create a new clean car law that will phase out gas-powered vehicles, Randolph, the chair of the Air Resources Board, stated that California is not backing down.
We thought it would be wise to begin that process now and have it ready, ideally for a more accommodating U.S. EPA, as these rulemakings take two, three, and occasionally even four years, Randolph said.
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