Clean Cars – Page 3 – Environmental and Energy Law Program

Legal Analysis

When industry support for stricter regulation is good business: Considering the car rules and methane standards

Since President Trump’s election, his administration has engaged in an aggressive rollback of environmental regulations promulgated during the Obama administration.[1] These reforms have been animated in part by a desire […]

April 14, 2020

Comprehensive Car Rules Rollbacks by Trump Administration–Backgrounder

We’ve put together a comprehensive overview of the rollback of the Corporate Average Fuel Economy and vehicle greenhouse gas emissions standards. Recently, the Environmental Protection Agency and National Highway Traffic […]

April 6, 2020

CleanLaw Podcast

CleanLaw Podcast: Caitlin McCoy and Joe Goffman Talk about the California Waiver Rule

Caitlin and Joe discuss EPA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s final rule that preempts California’s greenhouse gas standards and withdraws California’s Clean Air Act waiver.

September 25, 2019

Looking Forward from California’s Historic Agreement with Automakers

On July 25, California announced that it had reached an agreement with four automakers, Ford, BMW, Volkswagen, and Honda, on compromise standards for fuel efficiency and GHG emissions for model […]

July 26, 2019

California’s First Legal Battle over the New Car Rules

California has already begun fighting the administration’s efforts to weaken fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions standards for cars and light trucks. In May 2018, a coalition of states led […]

June 28, 2019

CleanLaw Podcast

CleanLaw: Joe Goffman Interviews Bill Becker on Vehicle Emissions Standards Rollbacks and Public Health

In this episode of CleanLaw, our executive director Joe Goffman speaks with Bill Becker, former Executive Director of the National Association of Clean Air Agencies until his retirement in 2017 and is current President of Becker Environmental Consulting. Bill and Mary Becker have just published a report on the Trump proposal to weaken vehicle greenhouse gas emissions standards. They describe the effects this proposal will have on public health, state compliance with the Clean Air Act, and industry operations. In addition to increasing greenhouse gas emissions, other harmful emissions will rise, such as smog-forming pollutants, fine particles, and cancer-causing air toxins.

May 13, 2019

CleanLaw Podcast

CleanLaw: Caitlin McCoy talks with Michelle Melton about Vehicle Standards

In this episode of CleanLaw, Caitlin McCoy speaks with Harvard Law student Michelle Melton about the proposed changes to the fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions standards for vehicles. They discuss the lead up to and details of the proposed rules, and talk about ongoing and future litigation around these rules.

May 9, 2019

Beyond the Waiver: EPA’s Plan to End State GHG Vehicle Standards

The comment period recently closed for the Trump administration’s proposed Light Duty Vehicle Greenhouse Gas Emission Standards and Corporate Average Fuel Economy Standards governing model years 2021-2026, known as the Safer Affordable Fuel Efficient (SAFE) Vehicles Rule. Barring a miraculous change of heart from either party, it looks like the administration and California are eventually headed for a battle royale, with enormous implications for the auto industry, consumers, American federalism, and the planet.

November 5, 2018

CAFE Standards and the California Preemption Plan

In a nutshell, this is the agencies’ proposed preemption argument: The Energy Policy and Conservation Act has a broad, clear preemption provision which preempts state laws or regulations “related to fuel economy standards or average fuel economy standards” and California’s Advanced Clean Cars program regulations are “related to fuel economy standards” and are thus preempted.

August 24, 2018