On Tuesday, California’s Attorney General, Governor and the California Air Resources Board (CARB) along with a coalition of 23 attorney generals and six cities and counties filed a motion to intervene and support the EPA’s greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) standards for light-duty vehicles.
A press release from the California parties states that the EPA recently finalized more stringent GHG standards for light-duty vehicles for model years 2023 to 2026 in an effort to reduce emissions from the transportation sector. The press release further states that the transportation sector accounts for nearly one-third of all GHG emissions in the United States, and light-duty vehicles account for nearly 60% of those transportation sector emissions.
Additionally, the press release reports that California Attorney General Rob Bonta and CARB led a coalition urging the EPA to adopt such standards and now seeks to join the EPA in defending these standards from challenges filed by several states and petroleum industry groups, among others. The parties argue that these challenges are an “attempt to take the country backwards in the battle against climate change,” and the new standards are critical for reducing emissions, improving air quality and protecting public health.
The press release further argues that Californians are on the frontlines of the climate crisis and California and other states are already experiencing the economic, public health and environmental impacts of climate change. Additionally, the press release states that the EPA estimates that by 2050, the new standards will reduce GHG emissions by 3.1 billion metric tons, and conservatively, the standards are expected to result in between $120 billion and $190 billion of total net benefits.
In filling the motion, the California parties are joined by the attorneys general of Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia, as well as the cities of Denver, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco and the counties of Denver and San Francisco.
