New York Files Lawsuit Challenging Trump Administration's Rollback of National Clean Car Standards

NEW YORK, May 28 -- The New York City Law Department issued the following news release:

New York City Corporation Counsel James E. Johnson joined a multistate coalition in filing a lawsuit challenging the Trump Administration's disastrous final rule rolling back the national Clean Car Standards. Since their introduction in 2010, the previous standards for passenger cars and light trucks have saved consumers money, reduced harmful emissions, and helped protect the health of our communities. The Trump Administration's misguided Safer Affordable Fuel-Efficient Vehicles (SAFE) rule stops this progress in its tracks, hurting the economy and public health at a time when the country can least afford it. In the lawsuit, the coalition will argue that the final rule violates the federal laws it is supposed to implement as well as federal administrative procedures.

"Fifty years ago, smog was considered a fact of life and many suffered terribly because of it. Sound science and good policy supported Clean Car Standards that have made a tremendous difference," said Corporation Counsel James E. Johnson. "They were designed to save drivers money at the pump and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The EPA now threatens to turn science and good judgment on its head. The federal government should focus on helping consumers and maintaining a healthy environment. While the automobile industry recognizes that the previous standards represented a sensible approach to reducing emissions that cause climate change, EPA has once again chosen to endanger public health and safety by ignoring climate science."

"At a time when the nation should be focusing all its efforts on protecting the health of Americans, the Trump administration instead continues to undermine the work, small and large, that is necessary to confront our climate crisis and the threats to public health and well-being that it will cause," said Daniel Zarrilli, NYC's Chief Climate Policy Advisor. "Rolling back the national Clean Car Standards is just the latest attempt by the federal government to undercut the environmental protections we all rely on. Here in New York City, we will continue to fight back against these dangerous attacks on our environment as we work to end our reliance on fossil fuels and invest in a clean energy economy."

In 2010, regulatory agencies worked with car manufacturers to establish a unified national program harmonizing greenhouse gas emission standards and fuel efficiency standards. Two years later, the agencies extended the national program to model years 2017-2025 vehicles. In January 2017, the EPA completed the midterm evaluation and issued a final determination affirming that the existing standards were appropriate and would not be changed.

The following year, the Trump Administration took its first step toward dismantling the national Clean Car Standards by reversing the final determination with a new mid-term evaluation that alleged the standards were no longer appropriate or feasible. The Trump Administration later made its rollback proposal official, despite the fact that the auto industry was on track to meet or exceed the Clean Car Standards.

On March 31, 2020, the Trump Administration announced its final rule rolling back the Clean Car Standards. The rule takes aim at the corporate average fuel efficiency standards, requiring automakers to make only minimal improvements to fuel economy--on the order of 1.5 percent annually instead of the previously anticipated annual increase of approximately 5 percent. The rule also guts the requirements to reduce vehicles' greenhouse gas emissions, allowing hundreds of millions of metric tons of avoidable carbon emissions into our atmosphere over the next decade.

Corporation Counsel James E. Johnson joins the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia. The California Air Resources Board, the Cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Denver, and the Counties of San Francisco and Denver also joined the coalition in filing the lawsuit.

More information on the coalition's efforts to defend our nation's Clean Car Standards and California's greenhouse gas emission and zero emission vehicle standards can be found at oag.ca.gov/cleancars