Roundup: California, 17 other states sue Trump administration over auto fuel efficiency targets

LOS ANGELES, May 1 (Xinhua) -- California and 17 other U.S. states on Tuesday sued the Trump administration over its attempts to roll back Obama-era greenhouse gas emission rules for the nation's auto fleet.

"The states joining today's lawsuit represent 140 million people who simply want cleaner and more efficient cars," California Governor Jerry Brown said in a statement announcing the lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. "This phalanx of states will defend the nation's clean car standards to boost gas mileage and curb toxic air pollution."

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit by California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Virginia, as well as the District of Columbia.

In the lawsuit, which comes amid a larger struggle over climate policy regarding U.S. cars and light trucks, the states contend that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) acted "arbitrarily and capriciously" in changing course on the greenhouse gas regulations.

"My message to the EPA and Administrator Pruitt is simple: Do your job. Regulate carbon pollution from vehicles," California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said at a press conference Tuesday. "We are not looking to pick a fight with the Trump administration, but we are ready for one."

The lawsuit comes just days after the Trump administration has drafted a proposal that would freeze fuel-efficiency standards for automobiles starting in 2021 levels, leaving them well below levels targeted under the Obama administration.

The plan, which is not final, would also challenge California's ability to set its own fuel-efficiency rules.

The Obama administration required automakers to raise the fuel efficiency to a fleet average of more than 50 miles per gallon by 2025.

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said in April the targets of vehicle fuel efficiency set by the Obama administration is too stringent and should be revised.

Pruitt's agency said that the standards are "based on outdated information" and that new data suggests "the current standards may be too stringent."

"This move by Pruitt with the help and encouragement of Trump is not going to make America great. It's going to make America second-rate," said California Governor Brown. "This is a science-based attack that we make on these characters in Washington."

Pruitt also questioned California's authority to write its own standards, which are more stringent than federal levels.

California, which accounts for about a third of the nation's car market, has been writing its own standards since 1970, as part of the state's efforts to fight air pollution.

"The evidence is irrefutable: today's clean car standards are achievable, science-based and a boon for hardworking American families. But the EPA and Administrator Scott Pruitt refuse to do their job and enforce these standards," said Attorney General Becerra.

California has a separate set of standards that have pushed automakers to produce more fuel-efficient vehicles.

The current standards were created under a 2011 agreement reached among the Obama administration, California officials and automakers. If enacted, they would avert 6 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions from vehicles sold between 2012 and 2025, according to the EPA.

The state has a huge car market. According to figures from the California New Car Dealers Association, California's 2,048,000 new car sales in 2017 represented about 12 percent of the 17 million-plus cars sold in the United States last year.

The auto industry itself viewed the original standards as a key tool in fighting climate change, especially because transportation is now the largest source of CO2 emissions in the U.S.

A report last year by Moody's listed 18 planned or actual battery electric vehicle launches, by 11 manufacturers, between 2016 and 2020.

"The standards we are fighting to protect were adopted in 2012 and don't take effect until 2022," California Air Resources Board Chair Mary D. Nichols said in a statement. "They were a lifeline thrown to an industry that was in trouble and desperate for stability."

"They were based on the best judgment of engineers about what technology could achieve. And in fact they are being achieved today, years ahead of the deadlines, because of the good work of the auto industry." Enditem