The Clean Air Act Loophole That California Exploits To Roll Out Draconian Rules

In the weird world of environmental regulation, there are two seats of power: Washington, D.C., and Sacramento, Calif. The first location is obvious: it’s the home of the Environmental Protection Agency.

However, what’s lesser known is that the Clean Air Act has a special carve-out allowing the California Air Resources Board to set stricter vehicle emissions standards than the EPA.

This waiver made a lot of sense when the act was first passed in 1963, with smog plaguing Los Angeles and posing a serious public health risk.

Fifty-five years later, however, California’s green police are weaponizing the loophole, using the threat of climate change to set unrealistic standards that threaten the auto industry and car-owning citizens across the country.

For the sake of regulatory sanity, the Trump administration EPA should revoke California’s waiver.

Motor vehicles today are 98 percent-99 percent cleaner than they were in the 1960s, emitting much less smog-related pollutants — a triumph of innovation that should be celebrated.

However, busybody bureaucrats just can’t sit still.

Instead, the California Air Resources Board turned their attention to climate change in the mid-2000s, begging Washington for the authority to enforce draconian regulations on auto manufacturers to cut down on greenhouse gases.

The EPA initially originally denied California’s waiver request under the Bush administration. However, Obama’s EPA finally approved the special rules in 2009.

Fast forward to today, CARB has approved harsh rules in the Obama era, including a mandate that would require up to 15 percent of car sales in the Golden State to be for zero-emissions vehicles like electric cars by 2025.

What’s worse is that the Clean Air Act allows other states to opt into California’s standards, which 13 have done. This essentially creates two regulatory regimes for motor vehicle emission standards — a true headache for manufacturers.

One may be tempted to defend such non-uniform regulation on federalist principles. However, other states aren’t afforded the same freedom to set their own emission standards. States like Texas are stuck between a rock and a hard place when given the choice between Washington or Sacramento’s rules.

Moreover, there are myriad other policy options that states can engage in to address climate change that doesn’t harm car consumers and manufacturers.

California could invest more in affordable public transportation such as zero-emissions buses. Or, it could raise its gas tax to discourage heavy driving — a solution straight out of Economics 101.

Instead, Sacramento wants to keep the arguably unconstitutional position of power it currently enjoys beyond its state borders.

Defenders of the waiver argue that it is encoded in the Clean Air Act, and thus would require an act of Congress to curtail California’s carve-out.

However, some market-oriented scholars have a different interpretation of the statute. As the Competitive Enterprise Institute points out, the federal Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 “preempts state laws or regulations ‘related to’ fuel economy,” arguably rendering California’s waiver invalid.

In any case, the Trump EPA should not sit on the sidelines while California continues to inflate its power. CARB just updated its rules five months ago, affecting the national market even further.

It’s high time the EPA stops the Golden State’s red tape frenzy by denying their waiver once and for all.

Read more at Washington Examiner