In anticipation of the D.C. Circuit Court hearings this week related to the Biden administration’s light-duty vehicle rules, Evergreen Action Deputy Policy Director Rachel Patterson released the following statement:
“The oil and gas industry is puppeteering its Republican beneficiaries in attempts to claw back state and executive authorities that protect public health from deadly vehicle emissions. This week, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments in three cases regarding regulations that require reduced emissions from light-duty vehicles, including an effort from Ohio Republicans, contrary to Ohio’s own interests in zero-emission vehicle manufacturing, to dismantle the Clean Air Act’s long standing provision allowing California to seek a waiver to enact its own emissions standards. If they got their way, they would spike deadly pollution that continues to threaten the health of millions of Americans, disproportionately those in Black, Brown, Indigenous, low-income, and frontline communities.
“And as these cases heat up, House-Republicans are in lockstep, introducing a new bill that takes aim at California’s vehicle waiver—a direct attack on state climate leadership and efforts to clean up our roadways. From the courts to the halls of Congress, Republicans are eager to dismantle popular, successful, bedrock environmental laws. They are prepared to sacrifice the health and jobs of the American people and throw away billions in private investments in zero-emission vehicles under the bus, so long as they continue raking in Big Oil’s dark money.
“But there’s no doubt about it: The Clean Air Act enshrines the California vehicle waiver and mandates the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) protect Americans’ health, including against threats of vehicle pollution and the National Highway Safety Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) with setting its vital fuel economy standards. The Biden administration must continue their work undisturbed by baseless legal attacks, while also finalizing an even stronger light-duty vehicle rule for future model years. We can, and must, continue to clean up our roadways, American lives depend on it.”
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