Attorney General Xavier Becerra on Friday announced that the California will be part of a multistate coalition filing a lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency. The suit is an attempt to stop the federal government from revoking a waiver granted to California in 2013 that allows the state to establish its own vehicle emission standards.
Becerra made his announcement in a news conference from the waterfront in Santa Barbara County. The site was chosen because of a 1969 oil spill, that President Richard Nixon said had touched the conscious of the American people. He vowed that America would do better in protecting the environment.
The lawsuit was filed in a District of Columbia court and is part of the state's ongoing fight to protect California's Advanced Clean Car Standards. These standards are followed, in whole or in part, by 13 other states.
"We've said it before and we'll say it again: California will not back down when it comes to protecting our people, our health, and our environment from preventable pollution," said Becerra. "California's Clean Car Standards are achievable. They not only work, many other states around the country have chosen to adopt them. The Trump Administration, on the other hand, has chosen to side with polluters. We believe we're on the right side of history."
"The Trump Administration continues to weaponize federal agencies in his war against public health and clean air," said California Governor Gavin Newsom. "California won't back down-- we, along with major automakers who voluntarily signed onto our framework, know that the future is clean cars. There's no time to waste and we'll continue to fight to defend our state's rights to set our own standards."
For approximately 50 years California has received waivers from the EPA that allow the state environmental regulators the authority to push the auto manufacturers to build cleaner cars, using state of the art technology.