WHAT TO KNOW: Republican-led states filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the Biden Administration’s new rules to curb tailpipe emissions; California, alongside 22 other states and 4 local governments, joined the federal government in defending the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s important rule.
SACRAMENTO – Despite just recently losing a court case that reaffirmed California’s decades-old authority to set clean vehicle standards, Republicans and Big Oil continue attacking measures that will cut pollution and accelerate the clean car transition.
Governor Gavin Newsom issued the following statement on California leading a multi-state coalition to stand alongside the Biden Administration in court:
Republicans are trying to roll back federal clean car standards.
California won’t sit back and watch red states put the profits of Big Oil over our health and our planet.
We're joining the Biden Administration in court to defend federal clean car rules. pic.twitter.com/zTWZiTXUu2
— California Governor (@CAgovernor) April 23, 2024
WHAT GOVERNOR NEWSOM SAID:
Thanks to President Biden, America is driving toward a clean car future.
The Biden Administration’s new car standards are a commonsense approach to moving America away from cars that choke our skies with smog towards a cleaner, greener future.
But Red States, they’re hellbent on stopping that from happening.
They filed yet another lawsuit to stop the standards – just like they tried stopping our nation-leading ZEV rules.
California though won’t sit back.
I’m not going to watch them put the profits of Big Oil over the health of our planet – the stakes are way too high.
We’re stepping in, we’re stepping in and joining the Biden Administration to defend their clean car rules from radical Republican challenges.
The naysayers and the skeptics, they want you to believe that electric vehicles are just some fad.
But they’re lying to you – fueled by the greed that’s keeping the oil industry alive.
The reality is that ZEV sales reached their highest point ever last year.
WHY THIS RULE IS IMPORTANT: These standards will avoid more than 7 billion tons of carbon emissions and provide nearly $100 billion of annual net benefits to society, including $13 billion of annual public health benefits due to improved air quality, and $62 billion in reduced annual fuel costs, and maintenance and repair costs for drivers.