Bipartisan Lawmakers to EPA: Don’t Stop States from Strengthening Auto Pollution Safeguards

June 16, 2017

Washington, D.C.- In response to President Trump’s announcement that the EPA would revisit current pollution safeguards for cars in an effort to weaken them, Representatives Jared Huffman (D-CA), Carlos Curbelo (R-FL), and 74 other bipartisan members of Congress joined together today to urge EPA Administrator Pruitt to uphold the Clean Air Act’s model of federal-state cooperation that has allowed California and other states to set strong air pollution standards to protect air quality, improve public health, and reduce carbon pollution.

The letter underlines the bipartisan lawmakers’ serious concerns about the Trump administration’s decision to spend the next year reconsidering already-established vehicle emission standards for 2017 through 2025. The Clean Air Act specifically provides California with the authority to set more protective standards for vehicle pollution, and for other states to adopt those standards as their own. The Trump administration’s decision to revisit these EPA standards may undermine states’ ability to combat carbon pollution as well as pollutants that cause health-threatening smog and soot.

“We are disappointed that President Trump has chosen not to press forward with strong federal standards and instead rescind EPA’s final determination that was made on January 12, 2017, which was based on sound science and evaluation,” wrote the representatives. “However, if the administration is unwilling to support stronger federal fuel efficiency and emission standards, it is more important than ever that states be allowed to continue driving innovation, consumer choice, and environmental and public health improvements through strong state standards. States should decide for themselves if they want to follow California’s lead or not.”

While Administrator Pruitt has indicated that the Environmental Protection Agency is not currently reviewing a waiver, which allows California to set, and other states to adopt, more protective emissions limits for vehicles than the federal government, he could still challenge California’s standards at any time.

In addition Representatives Huffman and Curbelo, the letter is cosigned by:  Representatives William R. Keating (D-MA), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Alan Lowenthal (D-CA), Grace F. Napolitano (D-CA), David N. Cicilline (D-RI), Mike Thompson (D-CA), Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Nydia M. Velázquez (D-NY), James R. Langevin (D-RI), Peter Welch (D-VT), Ted W. Lieu (D-CA), Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Louise M. Slaughter (D-NY), Anna G. Eshoo (D-CA), Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA), Mark Pocan (D-WI), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Raúl M. Grijalva (D-AZ), Jackie Speier (D-CA), Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Nanette Diaz Barragán (D-CA), Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA), Jim Himes (D-CT), Gerald E. Connolly (D-VA), Niki Tsongas (D-MA), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), James P. McGovern (D-MA), Salud O. Carbajal (D-CA), Eric Swalwell (D-CA), Jimmy Panetta (D-CA), Judy Chu (D-CA), Susan A. Davis (D-CA), Donald M. Payne, Jr. (D-NJ), Doris Matsui (D-CA), Norma J. Torres (D-CA), Mike Quigley (D-IL), Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH), Jared Polis (D-CO), Donald S. Beyer Jr. (D-VA), John Sarbanes (D-MD), Katherine Clark (D-MA), Mike Coffman (R-CO), Maxine Waters (D-CA), Adam Smith (D-WA), Joseph P. Kennedy, III (D-MA), Keith Ellison (D-MN), Ro Khanna (D-CA), Mark Takano (D-CA), Seth Moulton (D-MA), Michael E. Capuano (D-MA), Scott H. Peters (D-CA), Stephen F. Lynch (D-MA), Tony Cárdenas (D-CA), Adam B. Schiff (D-CA), Grace Meng (D-NY), Elijah E. Cummings (D-MD), Adriano Espaillat (D-NY), Richard E. Neal (D-MA), Dwight Evans (D-PA), Jerry McNerney (D-CA), C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD), Rick Larsen (D-WA), Kathleen M. Rice (D-NY), Paul Tonko (D-NY), Suzan DelBene (D-WA), Anthony G. Brown (D-MD), Linda T. Sánchez (D-CA), Brendan F. Boyle (D-PA), Robert A. Brady (D-PA), Michael F. Doyle (D-PA), Denny Heck (D-WA), Derek Kilmer (D-WA), and John K. Delaney (D-MD). 

You can read the full text of the letter HERE.

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