Supreme Court denies petition to review challenges to California's Clean Air Act provisions
According to the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), the U.S. Supreme Court has denied a petition submitted by Ohio and other states asking the Court to review constitutional challenges to California's authority to enforce its own pollution limits for new cars and passenger trucks.
This comes after the Court declined to consider the merits of oil and gas interests' separate challenges to the lawfulness of EPA's decision granting California a waiver of Clean Air Act preemption for its clean vehicle standards. The only issue the Court will consider related to these challenges is a threshold question concerning whether oil and gas interests had standing to bring their claims; the Court granted review on that issue in its Friday order.
Emission standards in California play a central role in advancements in vehicle emission technology. Congress has long recognized California's leadership in addressing the harmful pollution from new vehicles and adopted Clean Air Act provisions excluding California's standards for preemption.
Since 1967, the Clean Air Act has held a preemption waiver for California's emission standard for new motor vehicles, as long as these standards are at least as protective as national standards. In that time EPA has granted California more than 75 waivers.
In 2023, the oil and gas industry as well as the attorneys general of Ohio and other states challenged this waiver. In April 2024, the panel of judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled against the challengers and upheld EPA's decision to grant the waiver to California. California, joined by 18 other states and D.C., and a group of major auto manufacturers including Ford, Honda, Volkswagen, BMW, and Volvo, also intervened to defend EPA's decision.
The Court denied Ohio's constitutional challenges to California's authority and also rejected oil and gas interests' separate petition seeking review of the lawfulness of EPA's decision to grant California the waiver.
What people are saying
"California's clean car standards have successfully helped reduce the dangerous soot, smog, and climate pollution that put all people at risk, while also turbocharging clean technologies and job creation," said Alice Henderson, director and lead counsel for transportation and clean air policy for environmental defense fund. "EPA's decision to grant California this preemption waiver is based on a rock-solid legal foundation and decades of precedent, and it ensures vital clean air protections for millions of people."
"EDF is committed to continuing to help defend California's Clean Air Act authority and these life-saving clean car standards," said Henderson.
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