
EPA will formally announce on Wednesday that it is revoking the Obama-era waiver allowing California to enforce more stringent greenhouse gas emissions standards on new cars and light trucks than the federal government sets, according to a source with knowledge of the planned announcement.
POLITICO first reported earlier this month that the Trump administration planned to sever and advance the portion of its auto emissions rollback targeting California from the broader, more technical rulemaking setting new national standards for model year 2021 vehicles and beyond.
EPA did not immediately reply to a request for comment. But the agency released prepared remarks Administrator Andrew Wheeler delivered today at a gathering of the National Automobile Dealers Association in which he promised action “in the very near future.”
"We will be taking joint action with the Department of Transportation to bring clarity to the proper — and improper — scope and use of the Clean Air Act preemption waiver," Wheeler said, according to the prepared remarks.
The Clean Air Act gives California special authority to set more stringent pollution standards than the federal level, but only if EPA grants a waiver, as the Obama administration did. The state has promised to fight any attempt to revoke its waiver and argues that the law does not allow EPA to withdraw waivers once issued.
Thirteen other states and the District of Columbia, representing 36 percent of U.S. auto sales, have said they would follow California's standards, but EPA's expected withdrawal of the waiver would return those states to the federal standards.
EPA’s planned Wednesday rollout was first reported by Bloomberg.
Article originally published on POLITICO Magazine