California Upholds Auto Emissions Standards, Setting Up Face-Off With Trump -
By HIROKO TABUCHIMARCH 24, 2017
California’s clean-air agency voted on Friday to push ahead with stricter emissions standards for cars
and trucks, setting up a potential legal battle with the Trump administration over the state’s plan to reduce planet-warming gases.
After the election of Mr. Trump, a group representing the nation’s biggest makers of cars
and light trucks urged a reassessment of the emissions rules, which the group said posed a “substantial challenge” for the auto industry.
Mr. Trump, backing industry over environmental concerns, said easing emissions rules would help stimulate auto manufacturing.
Bonnie Holmes-Gen of the American Lung Association of California, one of many health and environmental groups
that spoke at the board meeting, said moving away from strict emissions standards would hurt public health and the health of the planet.
What was required, he said, were standards that “balance innovation, compliance and consumer needs and wants.”
Automakers have also been critical of a California’s zero-emission vehicle program, which requires automakers
to sell a certain percentage of electric cars and trucks in California and nine other states.