Report: Trump to challenge California authority on mileage

[Swordsmyth]

The Trump administration is moving forward with a proposal to revoke part of California's authority to set its own automobile gas mileage standards, a government official said Thursday, confronting a state that has repeatedly challenged the administration's environmental rollbacks.The Environmental Protection Agency was preparing paperwork for the White House for the move, meant to help the administration set a single, less rigorous mileage standard enforceable nationwide, according to the official, who is familiar with the regulatory process and spoke on condition of anonymity because the plan has not been made public.
President Donald Trump has pushed for months (https://apnews.com/152b4466881646268a08a02bb1d5d8ef) to weaken Obama-era mileage standards nationwide and has targeted California's decades-old power (https://apnews.com/351df4588d894c58ab83ab5c06844fc0) to set its own mileage standards as part of that effort.
Administration moves to rescind authority that Congress granted probably would end up in court. When President George W. Bush challenged California's greenhouse gas emissions and mileage-setting ability, California fought it. The Obama administration subsequently dropped the Bush effort.
The Trump plan would have to be posted in the Federal Register and would be subject to public comment.

More at: https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/official-trump-challenge-california-mileage-190250059.html

[TheCount]

What gives the federal government authority over this, rather than state governments?

[Schifference]

When something seems like it is a win it is probably a loss.

What is next? States have different emission laws. Should there be one law for the country?

Some states have mandatory safety inspections others do not. What is next?

Let California have its own laws. If people that live there don't like it, let them change it.

[Occam's Banana]

*shrug* When government sticks its nose in, someone's gonna get the short end.

In this particular case, it comes to "half a dozen of one or six of the other."

So pick you poison ...

/mixed-metaphors


States have different emission laws. Should there be one law for the country?

Automakers don't manufacture different cars to meet differing state emissions standards.

They manufacture all their cars to the standard of the most stringent state (California) so that they can sell the same cars in all 50 states.

So effectively, there already is "one law for the country" - California's law.


Let California have its own laws. If people that live there don't like it, let them change it.

What are the people who don't live in California (but who have to pay for cars that meet California standards anyway) supposed to do if they don't like it?

[TheCount]

Automakers don't manufacture different cars to meet differing state emissions standards.

They manufacture all their cars to the standard of the most stringent state (California) so that they can sell the same cars in all 50 states.

So effectively, there already is "one law for the country" - California's law.

There used to be different versions when CARB was new and the differences between emissions laws was large. My motorcycle has a California version and a 49 state version. Most vehicles do not because there are not major changes required anymore.

Regardless, I don't see why this should be a factor in determining what is a state's power and responsibility and what is the federal government's. It seems to me that it's perfectly sensible that different states have different environmental considerations and issues based upon their geography and weather. What an auto manufacturer chooses to do is irrelevant.

[Occam's Banana]

Regardless, I don't see why this should be a factor in determining what is a state's power and responsibility and what is the federal government's. It seems to me that it's perfectly sensible that different states have different environmental considerations and issues based upon their geography and weather. What an auto manufacturer chooses to do is irrelevant.

Such choices are not irrelevant. Indeed, the whole point of these regulations is to preemptively constrain and manipulate those choices (and not merely those of producers, but of consumers as well). Whether state or federal, it is a rich source of moral hazard. (Hence, "pick you poison" ...)

As just one example of this, I recall from some time ago a California state legislator (or special-interest advocate, or some such) explicitly declaring that the state ought willfully to strengthen and exploit this manner of its leverage over the auto industry just in order to compel the whole nation into de facto compliance with California's standards. In fact, in the AP article linked in the OP (https://apnews.com/351df4588d894c58ab83ab5c06844fc0), current California governor Gavin Newsom is quoted as saying , "We should keep working towards [B]one national standard - one that doesn’t backtrack on the progress states like California have made" (i.e., one that foists California's dictats on the entire country, regardless of "different environmental considerations and issues based upon their geography and weather").

So unfortunately, this is not (as it should be) simply a matter of California minding its business, of other states minding their business, and of producers (and consumers) making prudent economic choices within that context. It is, rather, a fight between one gang of overweening would-be bosses-of-everybody (California) and another gang of overweening already-are bosses-of-everybody (the Feds),

So again, "pick your poison" ... (or say, as I do, "a pox on both their houses!" ...)

[Stratovarious]

Right, so lets set another precedent falsely giving the nod to the Fed to
rule over states, and next regime can come in and double the most stringent
and ridiculous standards of the worst state , which of course is Calif.

This 3D Chess thing is becoming more and more 'fail' .

A better gesture would be to recommend moving out of calif, and suggesting
auto and motorcycle manufacturers re-tailor their business model to where
they don't need or include the Ca market.

[Danke]

Drive Free or Die.

[Swordsmyth]

In a move President Trump (https://www.foxnews.com/category/person/donald-trump) said will reduce car prices but will also anger environmental groups, the administration is revoking California (https://www.foxnews.com/category/us/us-regions/west/california)'s authority to set strict fuel economy standards.
Trump announced the move Wednesday, saying the decision was made “in order to produce far less expensive cars for the consumer,” while making cars safer at the same time.


“This will lead to more production because of this pricing and safety advantage, and also due to the fact that older, highly polluting cars, will be replaced by new, extremely environmentally friendly cars,” Trump tweeted Wednesday morning.
California's authority to set its own emissions standards tougher than the federal government's goes back to a waiver issued by Congress during passage of the Clean Air Act in 1970. The state has long pushed automakers to adopt more fuel-efficient passenger vehicles that emit less pollution. A dozen states and the District of Columbia also follow California's fuel economy standards.
The Trump administration decision revokes that waiver, touching off what is sure to be another high-profile legal fight with the Golden State.

"We embrace federalism and the role of the states, but federalism does not mean that one state can dictate standards for the nation,” EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler told the National Automobile Dealers Association Tuesday, adding that higher fuel economy standards would hurt consumers by increasing the average sticker price of new cars and requiring automakers to produce more electric vehicles.

More at: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-administration-revokes-californias-authority-to-set-auto-mileage-standards