CA's Strict Tailpipe Emissions Standards Restored: What To Know

CALIFORNIA — The Golden State just got a major leg up in its effort to fight climate change: the authority to set standards for motorists' tailpipe emissions. The state's right to do so was revoked under former President Donald Trump.

Earlier this week, officials at the Environmental Protection Agency announced they were reviewing the controversial ban imposed by the Trump administration in September 2019.

"The 2019 decision to revoke the state’s waiver to enforce its greenhouse gas pollution standards for cars and trucks was legally dubious and an attack on the public’s health and wellbeing," said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan in a statement.

The agency, delivering on President Joe Biden's directive to mitigate climate change, said it will seek the public's input at a June 2 public hearing before it restores the state's power, rescinding the Trump-era action.

The move is significant as tailpipes are the biggest source of greenhouse gas pollution in California — and there are a lot of motorists in the state. Since 1970, when the act was passed, the level of ozone, pollutants and particle pollution fell by 77 percent, according to the American Lung Association.

"The immediate goal is to decrease greenhouse gas emissions which contribute to climate change," Joseph Shapiro, associate professor in the University of California, Berkeley's Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, told Patch Wednesday. "But burning gasoline also generates other air pollutants that contribute to ground-level ozone [smog], particulate matter and other types of local air pollution."

If Trump's rollback were kept in place, carbon emissions would have increased so drastically that it would have been comparable to putting more than 9 million vehicles on the road, CalMatters previously reported.

Why should the EPA's action matter to Californians? It directly affects their health.

"These pollutants increase mortality and morbidity," Shapiro said. "So allowing this waiver will improve health both due to slowing climate change and decreasing air pollution. So this is getting two birds with one stone — climate change and air pollution."

Some 16 counties in California were recently ranked among the most polluted in the nation, according to the American Lung Association's 2021 "State of the Air" report, published in April.

What's more, low-income families and people of color living in places with unhealthy levels of pollution are especially at risk of harm to their health.

Some 70 million people of color live in counties that received a failing grade for particle pollution and ozone, according to the American Lung Associaion's April report. Some 14 million people of color live in counties that received more than one failing grade, including 9.7 million Latino residents.

Some 15.8 million low-income residents in the U.S. live in counties that received an F for at least one pollutant, the report said.

"Low-income and minority communities tend to experience higher levels of these pollutants and associated health consequences, so the waiver may help decrease environmental inequality," Shapiro said.

In 2019, Trump argued that his move would make vehicles more affordable and add more jobs for Californians.

The former president and others who opposed California's tighter rules on emission said that tighter standards could be bad for business. Shapiro pointed out that tighter rules could actually benefit carmakers specializing in electric or hyrbid cars.

"Like most policies, this has costs and benefits that differ across firms and consumers. Auto manufacturers specialized in fuel-efficient vehicles may benefit," he said. "Different fuel economy policies across states can complicate marketing and manufacturing for auto firms. In several cases, however, tighter environmental policies in California have presaged similar federal policies."

Over the last several years, California filed several lawsuits against the Trump administration over the issue. The heated battle settled to a simmer in July of 2019 when the state cut its own deal with four major auto manufacturers.

The terms of the deal handed four carmakers an extra year to reach greenhouse gas reduction goals and gave them incentives for rolling out electric vehicles.

In response to the compromise between the state and automakers, Trump in August 2019 tweeted: "When this Administration’s alternative is no longer available, California will squeeze them to a point of business ruin. Only reason California is now talking to them is because the Feds are giving a far better alternative, which is much better for consumers!"

As to whether 2019's action had an effect on California's air quality, it remains to be seen whether there was any significant damage done to the environment.