Several major automakers including General Motors, Fiat Chrysler, Toyota and several others are siding with the Trump Administration in a lawsuit that will determine whether California has the right to set its own greenhouse gas emissions and fuel economy standards.
According to a statement from the automakers, they and a trade association called the Association of Global Automakers plan to intervene in a lawsuit filed by California and 22 other states and environmental groups against that aim to undo the Trump administration's determination earlier this year that federal law prohibits the Golden State from setting stiffer tailpipe emissions standards and zero-emission mandates.
California is arguing that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) acted arbitrarily and capriciously and failed to follow its own regulations, in a clear violation of the Clean Air Act. In 2010, California along with the Obama Administration's EPA, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the California Air Resources Board, established a single national program for greenhouse gas emissions standards for those vehicles built between 2012 and 2025. Those standards were overturned by the Trump Administration earlier this year after President Trump announced his administration would seek to revoke California's authority under the Clean Air Act to set stricter standards than those at the federal level.
The Trump Administration wants to freeze fuel efficiency standards at 2021 levels through 2025 with a final proposal due by the end of this year. Automakers have come out in favor of the stricter standards, however, they only want to deal with one standard and not dueling versions as proposed by California and the federal government. Several automakers, including Ford, Honda, Volkswagen and BMW sided with California in July, agreeing to voluntarily increase fuel efficiency in their cars to California's stricter standard.
Under the Obama Administration, automakers were required to begin producing vehicles that average 30-mpg in real-world driving by 2021, with that standard rising to 36 mpg in 2025.
Advocates for the new standards say the standards the states are suing to protect is estimated to reduce carbon pollution equivalent to 134 coal power plants burning for a year. The emission standards also save drivers up to $1,650 per vehicle.
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