California, allies ready for emission-law war with Trump EPA, CARB head says

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GCC:
23 states now oppose EPA fuel economy freeze
https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1123951_23-states-now-oppose-epa-fuel-economy-freeze

The number of states that oppose President Trump's efforts to freeze emissions and fuel economy standards is growing.

In June last year, 16 states and Washington, DC, sued the federal government over the proposal before it was even released.

On Tuesday, governors of 23 states plus Puerto Rico released a joint statement urging the Trump administration to reconsider its proposal to freeze the standards through 2026. . . .

Originally, California was joined in the lawsuit by Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington state, as well as DC. Most, though not all of those states follow California's clean air standards, which are tighter than the EPA's. . . .

The latest letter adds support from both Democratic and Republican governors of some key electoral swing states, such as Colorado, Nevada, North Carolina, and Wisconsin, plus New Mexico and Montana. Together the governors, who are all part of the U.S. Climate Alliance, represent 52 percent of the U.S. population and 57 percent of the economy.

Automakers, who originally asked President Trump to revisit current Obama-era standards, have also implored the Trump administration not to freeze the standards. They've asked the administration to find a compromise with California to produce a single set of national standards that incorporate annual increases, though smaller ones than those passed under the Obama administration. On Tuesday, the Auto Alliance, a lobbying group representing most major automakers, issued a statement urging states and the federal government to "find a middle ground that raises standards year over year while aligning with market demand.”

Instead, it looks likely that the question will face a protracted court battle resulting in years of uncertainty over emissions and fuel economy standards—as well as, perhaps, long-term requirements for electric cars.
 
GCR:
Report: EPA delays proposed fuel economy plan until September - or later
https://www.greencarreports.com/new...ed-fuel-economy-plan-until-september-or-later

The EPA's plans to freeze fuel economy and emissions standards have been put on hold until at least Labor Day, sources familiar with the plans told Bloomberg earlier this week. . . .

The plan proposes to freeze those fuel economy increases at 2020 levels through 2026, requiring cars and trucks to average about 37 mpg, rather than increase them to 47 mpg by 2025 as current law requires. . . .

This isn't the first time that the timeline has changed. Early this year, EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler revealed in a Bloomberg interview that the agency expected to release the new rules by April. After receiving a lot of negative comments on the proposal, especially from some unexpected quarters, Wheeler announced in April that the proposal would be revised and targeted a new release for June. The revised proposal was expected to require small increases in fuel economy through 2025.

Now both automakers and the Governors of 23 states, including some red electoral bastions and several purple battlegrounds that President Trump relied on in his election, have released public letters opposing the freeze in standards. California, with 17 other states, has sued the EPA over the proposal's plan to rescind its EPA waiver, and to attack its future right to set its own standards.

If the standards are frozen, that lawsuit would likely move forward in court and lead to years of division in state standards and uncertainty for automakers. Since automakers are already developing cars for the 2023 model year and beyond, that uncertainty would certainly be costly,

With the President already starting to campaign for the 2020 election and parties on almost all sides opposed to the proposal, the summer delay could lead to an even longer delay.
 
A few days old, but still relevant, via GCC:
California, 4 automakers reach framework agreement on GHG standards; slight FE weakening, no upstream emissions calculations
: https://www.greencarcongress.com/2019/07/20190725-arb.html

As the Trump administration prepares to freeze emission standards for light-duty cars and trucks, a consortium of four automakers—Ford, Honda, BMW of North America and Volkswagen Group of America—and California have agreed on a voluntary framework to reduce emissions that could serve as an alternative path forward for clean vehicle standards nationwide.

The agreement slightly weakens the current standards by decreasing the original fuel economy increases year-over-year and moves the current 2025 requirement to 2026, resulting in slightly less aggressive year-over-year reductions. (That is, changing the original year-over-year 4.7% GHG reduction over four years to 3.7% over five years.)

Of the 3.7% annual stringency, 1% can be achieved using advanced technology multiplier credits. This would continue current advanced technology multipliers that now expire after MY 2021, extending them through MY 2024 at the current 2.0x for Battery Electric and Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (BEV/FCEV), and 1.6x for Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV), tapering off at the current MY 2020 and MY 2021 levels in MY 2025 and MY 2026, respectively.

Other elements of the agreement are:

  • Raise the current cap on off-cycle menu credits, which account for actions taken outside the formal test cycle framework, from 10 grams per mile to 15 grams per mile starting in MY 2020.

    Simplify compliance by removing the requirement to consider upstream GHG emissions associated with the production of the electricity used by electric vehicles when calculating the GHG emissions for a carmaker’s fleet.

    Participating companies are choosing to pursue a voluntary agreement in which California accepts these terms as compliance with its program, given its authority, rather than challenge California’s GHG and ZEV programs. . . .
 
GCR:
California sues Trump administration again over fuel economy fines
https://www.greencarreports.com/new...-administration-again-over-fuel-economy-fines

California launched another lawsuit against the Trump administration over fuel economy regulations Friday, this time over a federal decision to suspend planned increases in penalties for automakers who miss required targets.

In announcing the lawsuit, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra accused the Trump administration of trying to make fuel-economy standards "meaningless.”

California was joined by 12 other states in the latest lawsuit, according to a Reuters report. New York Attorney General Letitia James called the rule “another misguided and reckless attempt by the Trump Administration to roll back the clock on our clean air standards.”

NHTSA responded to Reuters that it is following the intent of the congressional mandate in freezing the fines. . . .
 
Lost in the state's rights arguments and the climate change deniers whining is the fundamental flaw of the standards in question - they were/are based on vehicle footprints. Want to make it easier for your car to pass? Just make it a little bigger. This has been driving vehicle bloat. Selling something the size of a 1980s Civic or 1990s Metro doesn't win a manufacturer a lot of extra points because the small size ratchets up the requirements compared to a larger vehicle, even if the larger vehicle can't actually haul any more people or stuff. A proper approach would be to use vehicle capabilities. Every passenger seating position, every extra kg of payload capacity, every kg of towing capacity should be given an allowable fuel consumption. Vehicles that could do more would be allowed to use more fuel, but making a vehicle bigger without increasing the amount of people and/or stuff you can haul with it would be counterproductive.
 
Titanium48 said:
Want to make it easier for your car to pass? Just make it a little bigger. This has been driving vehicle bloat. Selling something the size of a 1980s Civic or 1990s Metro doesn't win a manufacturer a lot of extra points because the small size ratchets up the requirements compared to a larger vehicle, even if the larger vehicle can't actually haul any more people or stuff. A proper approach would be to use vehicle

Or you could look at consumer pollution from a grams per mile perspective and reward manufacturers for lower energy consumption on the most efficient vehicles.

In many cities large cars/trucks drive huge hidden costs in the form of parking and congestion,

Taxing larger luxury vehicles more on registration (aka 4wd passenger bling trucks should pay the most, 2wd manual less and small micro cars the least) you could curb some consumer behavior by just raising taxes on large luxury stuff and drastically lowering it on very small vehicles, think Kei car laws.

Penalizing bad behavior and rewarding good is what shapes the vehicle landscape

Heck Wisconsin raising its license fees from $25 to $75 coupled with higher insurance rates made 2 million cars stop being registered

I have no doubt registration can be used to drive decisions (good or bad)
and drive costs to the larger vehicles that cause the damage.
 
GCC:
EPA, NHTSA issue One National Program Rule; EPA withdraws CA waiver for GHG and fuel economy
https://www.greencarcongress.com/2019/09/20190919-onerule.html


Direct link to EPA release:
Final Rule: One National Program on Federal Preemption of State Fuel Economy Standards
https://www.epa.gov/regulations-emi...one-national-program-federal-preemption-state


GCC:
EPA Administrator broadly outlines Trump Administration thinking on fuel economy standards and California
https://www.greencarcongress.com/2019/09/20190919-wheeler.html


Opinion piece in L.A. Times:
Column: Can Trump legally revoke California’s clean air waiver? Short answer: Probably not.
https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2019-09-19/hiltzik-trump-california-waiver
 
ABG;
As it fights Trump on emissions, California devises ways to make him irrelevant
$7,000 rebate plan, other tax moves are designed to outmaneuver the EPA
https://www.autoblog.com/2019/09/19/trump-california-waiver-vehicle-emissions-environment/


The bill, by Assemblyman Phil Ting, would give up to a $7k rebate for buying or leasing a ZEV, but only on cars from a manufacturer who agrees to abide by California's emissions standards. The legislature is now adjourned, but will discuss the bill when they return in January.
 
On cue, CA and 23 other States sue the Trump administration:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/20/...tion=click&module=Top Stories&pgtype=Homepage

Best prospect for CA and friends might be for this to be held up in lower courts until next 4-year presidency term. If then not Trump in office, the EPA could reverse course and avoid Supreme Court. My guess is Trump would like this to go to Supreme Court sooner and hope the right leaning court is unsympathetic to States rights in this case.
 
I wonder if the the CARB states couldn't just tack a significant registration surcharge on vehicles with a lower mileage rating, and avoid the EPAs nonsense?
 
Here's the list of the states and local governments challenging the administration's plan:
Attorney General Becerra leads the attorneys general of Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia; as well as the cities of Los Angeles and New York.
https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-relea...es-lawsuit-challenging-trump-administration’s


Three of the states have Republican Governors: Maryland, Massachusetts, Vermont.
 
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