The Trump administration filed a new lawsuit on Thursday aiming to block California’s ability to set stricter-than-federal emissions standards for cars.
It targets current and future clean car rules in the state, including some that have been in place since 2012 that set declining limits on smog-causing pollutants and required automakers to sell increasing percentages of electric and hybrid vehicles through 2025.
Since the 1960s, the federal government has allowed California to set its own, stricter auto standards because of the state’s unique and severe air quality problems. The regulations have led to more fuel-efficient vehicles on the roads and, in recent years, hybrid and electric ones, critical to meeting the state’s climate laws.
In the new lawsuit, the Justice Department argues that California emissions standards violate the Energy Policy and Conservation Act, which requires the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to set “uniform, nationwide fuel-economy standards.”
The case was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California on behalf of the U.S. Department of Transportation. In a statement, the plaintiffs argued that California’s rules were driving up the cost of cars.
“Gavin Newsom is determined to continue pushing Democrat’s radical EV fantasy – even if doing so is illegal,” said Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy. “Newsom may not care about lowering costs, but President Trump does.”
A spokesperson for Gov. Gavin Newsom said the clean car rules protect consumers from high gasoline prices that have spiked due to the invasion of Iran by the U.S. and Israel.
“Gas prices are soaring nationwide because of Trump’s reckless choices, and now he’s attacking the Golden State for trying to give Californians more freedom and cheaper options,” spokesperson Anthony Martinez said.
Currently, electric vehicles in the U.S. cost more than gas-powered vehicles up front, but they can yield savings over time because charging them costs less than gasoline.
The California Air Resources Board tried to update its auto emissions standards in 2022 when it passed a rule that would ban gas-powered car sales by 2035. But Congress voted last summer to revoke the federal Clean Air Act permission for that rule along with two other waivers former President Biden had approved for clean truck rules.
California sued over that move and sent out an emergency order to continue enforcing earlier standards, which the Trump administration alleges violates the law.
Since taking office, the Trump administration has moved to roll back federal mileage requirements and slashed federal rebates for electric cars.
President Trump in his first term tried to revoke the same clean car law targeted in today’s lawsuit, but the issue was held up in court and the Biden administration reinstated permission for it when he took office. At the time, five automakers promised California they would abide by its clear car rules regardless of litigation outcomes, but those agreements expire this year.
Clean air advocates criticized the new lawsuit.
“These are standards that the auto companies are already meeting,” said Bill Magavern, policy director with the Coalition for Clean Air. “It’s just ridiculous for the federal government to be undermining California’s air quality.”
The California attorney general’s office called the lawsuit “federal overreach.”
“This lawsuit is yet another part of the President’s unlawful all-out assault on California’s Clean Car Rules,” spokesperson Christine Lee said. “We will vigorously defend the State’s efforts to reduce harmful pollution and protect public health.”
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