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False Start: Too Early to Sue Trump Administration Over Emission Standards

A federal appeals court said California and other states couldn’t sue the Trump administration for proposing to lower vehicle emission standards yet. The states must wait for a “final decision on easing emissions requirements for 2022-25.”

(TNS) — California and other states acted prematurely in suing the Trump administration for proposing to weaken vehicle emissions standards, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.

But while saying a lawsuit must await a final decision on easing emissions requirements for 2022-25 model vehicles, the court also said the Trump administration, if sued, would have to show why it was rejecting the government’s previous, research-backed findings that stricter standards were healthful, economical and achievable.

If the Environmental Protection Agency changes the rules it set under President Barack Obama in 2012 and reaffirmed in January 2017, “it will need to provide a reasoned explanation for why it is disregarding facts and circumstances” that informed those decisions, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., said.

So although the court ordered the lawsuits dismissed, the ruling was applauded by environmental advocates whose legal challenges were also set aside.

“Today’s decision reaffirms that the Trump administration can’t sweep facts under the rug as it attempts to roll back the clean car standards,” said Joanne Spalding, the Sierra Club’s chief attorney on climate issues.

Scott Nelson, a lawyer for the consumer-advocacy group Public Citizen, said the EPA “has some explaining to do if it wants to set aside its previous, carefully considered view that its existing clean car standards were appropriate.”

The EPA said it was reviewing the ruling and declined further comment.

After negotiations with auto manufacturers and officials in California, which previously had set its own stringent standard, the Obama administration raised nationwide fuel-efficiency requirements for cars and light-duty trucks, from 35.5 miles per gallon in 2016 to 54.5 mpg for new models in 2025. Officials said the change would reduce greenhouse gas emissions and oil use and save consumers $3,400 to $5,000 in fuel costs over the life of a vehicle.

Soon after taking office in 2017, President Trump said he would “cancel” the requirement. His EPA withdrew the previous findings in April 2018 and issued findings soon afterward that there was “uncertainty” about available technology, and doubt about benefits to low-income consumers.

The action was challenged in lawsuits by California, 16 other states, Washington, D.C., and environmental organizations. The EPA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have proposed freezing fuel-economy standards at 2020 levels — 37 mpg — through the 2026 model year. Those rules are not yet final.

Meanwhile, the EPA has revoked California’s longtime authority to set emissions standards stricter than the nationwide criteria, an action that would also affect 13 states that follow California’s lead. The state has challenged the revocation in court. And in a separate action, Trump’s Justice Department has opened an antitrust investigation of automakers that have agreed to comply with California’s standards.

In contesting the EPA’s rejection of the Obama-era emissions standards, the states and environmental groups argued that those standards, which are still in effect, and the EPA’s decision were “final agency action” that could be challenged in a lawsuit. The appeals court disagreed.

The EPA’s 2018 decision “created only the possibility that there may be a change in the future to the model-year 2022-25 standards,” Judge Judith Rogers said in the 3-0 ruling. She cited a Trump administration court filing that said “all of the options are on the table,” despite past public statements.

And although other states, citing approaching legal deadlines, have already taken steps to change their emissions standards to mirror California’s requirements, Rogers said, “such voluntary actions do not generate final agency action” that authorizes a lawsuit.

©2019 the San Francisco Chronicle. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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