Court rejects challenge to California's clean air laws that Trump said would kill

The US Supreme Court today rejected a request by Ohio and other states to stop California from implementing its clean air laws, a legal right that California has had since the 60s that Donald Trump has repeatedly tried and failed to repeal.

Since the 1960s, California has been able to set its own clean air regulations, as long as they are as strict as the federal clean air regulations. California was granted this waiver from the Clean Air Act in recognition of its unique air quality challenges.

When the connection between gasoline-burning cars and emissions was discovered, California was developing its own clean air laws at the same time as the federal government.

At that time (and still), Los Angeles was choked with smoke. The city was built around traffic (after public transportation in the city was destroyed by cartoon villians), has a unique environment that catches more smog than most of its population, and is currently home to America's largest port, where ~40% of the country's containerized vehicles come from.

California's central valley is also home to a lot of smog – with some of the most productive agricultural land in the country producing half of the nation's fruits, nuts and vegetables. But it is surrounded by mountains, and the smoke has nowhere to go.

Since the federal government did not want to pre-empt efforts already underway in California (under then-Governor Ronald Reagan), and acknowledged that California's challenges were unique, it allowed the EPA to review California's regulations and grant a waiver. it operates under its own clean air regulations as long as they are as good as the EPA.

Other states are allowed to follow these laws, but only if they copy directly. These are known as “section 177 counties,” named after the section of the Clean Air Act that provides this waiver, or “CARB” counties, named after the California Air Resources Board that creates state regulations.

So for the past 60 years, California has been operating under its own clean air laws. There was a brief period during the Obama administration where California and state laws were harmonized – but industry lobbying and the meddling of a clueless TV broadcaster led to the collapse of that harmony, giving corporations a much tighter regulatory environment.

These clean air laws have been successful, resulting in a >98 percent reduction in vehicle-based pollution in the LA area, even as the number of vehicle miles traveled has increased (and that news was in 2012 – it's gotten even better since then because of EVs) .

However, there is still a lot of work to be done, as LA and the nearby Inland Empire still have very polluted air.

So, California issued a new set of clean air rules for 2022, which the EPA is expected to approve this week.

But other states quickly challenged those laws, even though the laws did not affect them.

The challenge was brought by Ohio and 16 other Republican-led states that wanted to end California's long-held state right to protect its citizens from polluted air.

The states argued that the Constitution does not allow the government to treat the states equally (even though all of the states bringing the suit have more Congressional representation per capita than California), so allowing California to set clean air laws is unfair. The states seem to think that Californians should be required to inhale as much poison as their Republican leadership forces on their citizens.

As the case has entered the court system, the courts have effectively ruled that the law, which has worked for 60 years to reduce pollution and health costs for Californians and other CARB states, should stand. In April, a DC appeals court upheld California's right.

But that wasn't enough for Ohio and 16 republican states, who brought their desire to poison Californians all the way to the United States Supreme Court.

That Court today dismissed the states' appeal, thus ensuring that the DC Court's decision will stand. 8 of the 9 people sitting on the Court agreed that they would not review the case and let the lower court's decision stand, although Clarence Thomas said he would take the case.

In addition, last Friday, although the Court agreed to hear a case involving the oil industry's challenge to California's clean air laws, that case was limited to the issue of standing, or deciding which organizations are allowed to bring cases to court. In granting that request, the Court said it would not consider reviewing California's right to set its own emissions standards.

Electrek's Take

Well, I'll take this as my chance to eat a little crow. Even as late as last week, I thought there was a good chance that the Court would twist itself into some kind of extrajudicial rationale to try to stop California's laws, as it has done in the past on CO2 emissions and Chevron's reputation.

But on Friday and today, the Court denied the review of one but two separate cases about that, so it seems that it does not want to hear cases about the legal authorities of California – or maybe that it will wait until the right time to strike. We'll have to see which one it is – I still don't trust them because of their obvious corruption, but we can breathe a sigh of relief for now.

All this happened less than a month before the conviction of the criminal Donald Trump, who ended up getting more votes than his opponent in his third attempt (despite the coup d'état in 2021, which has a clear legal solution), will find himself in the doldrums again. the White House. Mr. Trump has repeatedly said that he wants to change clean air policies, thereby binding Americans with polluted air, high costs and poor health, and destroy the US EV market and send US manufacturing jobs to China.

And one of his regular targets has been California, the state that has done the most to improve clean air — which is obviously embarrassing for an air pollution advocate like him. He has indicated that he wants to “rip up” California's exemption, an attempt he has tried and failed to make in the past. So expect a battle in the coming years, when California is once again on the side of clean air, and Mr. Trump is also on the side of poisoning the American people.

If you'd like your electric car to be even cleaner, charge it at home using rooftop solar panels. Find a reliable and competitively priced solar installer near you EnergySagefor free. They have pre-tested installers that compete with your business, guaranteeing high quality solutions and 20-30% savings. It's free, no sales calls until you choose an installer. Compare custom solar quotes online and get guidance from unbiased energy advisors. Get started here. – advertisement*