Vermont officials plan to push back if the Trump administration follows through on plans to revoke California’s ability to set its own emissions standards.
Vermont is one of 13 states to have adopted the Golden State’s stricter vehicle emissions levels.
The announcement came in a Wednesday tweet from President Donald Trump. A legal battle is expected.
“The Trump Administration is revoking California’s Federal Waiver on emissions in order to produce far less expensive cars for the consumer, while at the same time making the cars substantially SAFER,” Trump tweeted.
The president said the revocation would ultimately be good for the environment as well as consumers.
“This will lead to more production because of this pricing and safety advantage, and also due to the fact that older, highly polluting cars, will be replaced by new, extremely environmentally friendly cars.”
The federal government originally granted California a waiver under the federal Clean Air Act to set its own emissions standards in response to the smog covering cities like Los Angeles. The Wednesday announcement comes several months after California secretly negotiated with four major automakers to voluntarily follow the state’s emissions standards as the EPA was weakening federal tailpipe emissions standards.
California officials, including Gov. Gavin Newsom, warned the move would worsen air pollution. The state’s attorney general, Xavier Becerra said the move would amount to trampling on state’s rights.
Vermont officials also reacted strongly.
“Vermont is a national leader on clean air and we intend to fight the actions if they happen,” said Vermont Attorney General T.J. Donovan. “We’re looking at all options and anticipate vigorously fighting to protect our environment and clean air.”
Peter Walke, deputy secretary of the state Agency of Natural Resources, said the California emissions standards are an important way for Vermont to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the state’s largest contributor — the transportation sector. From 2022 to 2032, total vehicle carbon dioxide emissions in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states are projected to fall roughly 20% as a result of increased fuel economy.
“The ability to have more efficient … vehicles is incredibly important and to take that tool away from the state just makes zero sense and takes us backwards,” Walke said.
Last winter, Vermont joined the Transportation Climate Initiative — a multi-state effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transportation. Walke said the revocation could make it “more costly” for the state to reduce emissions through other avenues, like participating in TCI and the new electric vehicle incentives.