Last summer, the administration revoked California’s EPA emissions waiver. Under the waiver, California was allowed to set its own fuel economy standards. Now the administration is taking its next step. With the legal basis for California’s standards removed, the administration filed a lawsuit looking to void CARB’s vehicle CO2 standards and zero-emissions vehicle (ZEV) mandate. The lawsuit states:
“CARB’s CO2 standards and ZEV mandates in these regulations are related to fuel economy standards because reducing or eliminating tailpipe CO2 emissions from internal combustion automobiles effectively increases fuel economy… Fuel economy standards and CO2 standards are two sides of the same coin. And a ZEV mandate requires a quota of vehicles that emit no CO2 from their tailpipes. CARB’s CO2 standards for light-duty vehicles… and ZEV mandates… are preempted under 49 U.S.C. § 32919(a) because they relate to fuel economy standards. They should be declared unlawful and unenforceable, and the Defendants should be permanently enjoined from enforcing them.”
California’s emissions standards became de facto standards for the whole country as automakers did not wish to design and market specific products for California. If the administration’s suit is successful in voiding them, then we’ll likely see less regulation of vehicle emissions as the EPA is currently uninterested in stringent standards. The silver lining is that inefficient cars aren’t very popular. Meaning that the progress California has made to date is unlikely to be undone. However, moving forward, automakers will have less incentive to further innovate on fuel efficiency. Additionally, without the ZEV mandate, the adoption of EVs in the US is likely to slow.
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