The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Department of Transportation have finalized a rule to reverse the Trump Administration’s efforts to prevent states from issuing their own greenhouse gas emissions standards and zero-emission vehicle mandates.
While there’s a lot to process, the Trump Administration pushed a national standard that prevented California from setting their own regulations. As the EPA noted at the time, the rule will “provide nationwide uniform fuel economy and greenhouse gas emission standards for automobiles and light duty trucks.”
There’s an admittedly good logic behind having one national standard, but the Biden Administration rejected that to further “important fuel economy, equity, and climate change priorities, including reversing unnecessary and unlawful efforts to prevent state action.”
Also Read: EPA Revokes California’s Emissions Waiver, Launches “One National Program Rule”
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, they reviewed public comments made during the rulemaking process and “concluded that SAFE I overstepped the Agency’s legal authority and established overly broad prohibitions that did not account for a variety of important state and local interests.” As a result, the rule has been revised to ensure there are no longer improper barriers to states “exploring creative solutions to address their local communities’ environmental and public health challenges.”
U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg added, “This final rule removes a roadblock to important state actions tackling climate change” and said they can “now actively pursue solutions to address the climate crisis and environmental challenges in their communities.” This means California has effectively been given a free hand to make stringent fuel economy and emission standards that could potentially be stricter than those recently announced by the EPA.
