California and ten other Democrat-led states sued the Trump administration for repealing the state’s authority to impose a national de facto electric vehicle (EV) mandate almost immediately after President Donald Trump made the repeals official.
Trump signed resolutions to repeal authorizations that had enabled California to ban the sale of new gas-powered vehicles in the state and in numerous others by 2035 under its “Advanced Clean Cars II” plan into law on Thursday. Moments later, Democratic California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced the lawsuit at a press conference, with Thursday’s action coming just days after the state sued the administration for deploying the National Guard to quell the anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) riots in Los Angeles.
“We made a promise that if the president attempted to illegally interfere with our clean air standards, we’d hold him accountable in court,” Bonta said on Thursday.
Filed Waiver Resolution Complaint by audreystreb on Scribd
Bonta’s office and the other states filed the lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Trump, arguing that the federal government is violating the law as California has had the authority to set its own emissions rules for decades, according to the filing. The case will be considered by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, the filing states.
This is the 26th time California is suing the Trump administration, Bonta said in the press conference. The lawsuit also includes Colorado, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.
The Trump administration and the EPA are not convinced that California’s suit will hold up in court, however.
“California’s Green New Deal EV mandate is a disaster for Californians and a gross overreach by their incompetent government. This costly, unrealistic, and tyrannical action directly attacks the American people’s freedom,” a White House spokesman Harrison Fields said in a statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation. “The President was proud to sign the bipartisan CRA, ending this backward mandate once and for all. The Trump administration has full confidence that this action will hold in court.”
In addition to overturning the de facto EV mandate, Trump approved the rollback of regulations that would have gradually phased out medium- and heavy-duty diesel vehicles and enforced significant reductions on tailpipe emissions from trucks.
“It’s civics 101. Both chambers of Congress pass legislation, and the President signs it into law. This is nothing more than California throwing a temper tantrum because the American people don’t want the state’s terrible policies,” EPA Associate Administrator for Public Affairs Molly Vaseliou told the DCNF. “The complaint lacks merit, and we look forward to a swift dismissal.”
Newsom and Trump have been publicly feuding over how to address the ongoing Los Angeles riots, which have already resulted in torched property and almost 400 arrests.
“Trump’s all-out assault on California continues – and this time he’s destroying our clean air and America’s global competitiveness in the process. We are suing to stop this latest illegal action by a President who is a wholly-owned subsidiary of big polluters,” Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement.
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