Trump Defends Plan to Kill California’s Auto-Emissions Authority – The New York Times

“Our message to those who claim to support states’ rights is, ‘Don’t trample on ours,’” said Xavier Becerra, the attorney general of California, at a Sacramento news conference about an hour after Mr. Trump’s tweets. “We cannot afford to backslide in our battle against climate change.”

Mr. Trump’s supporters welcomed the move.

“The California emissions regulations would impact Americans in other states who have no ability to vote those state legislators out of office,” said Adam Brandon, the president of FreedomWorks, a libertarian offshoot of a group co-founded by the late David H. Koch and his brother Charles Koch, who made their fortune in fossil fuels. “It is regulation without representation at its worst.”

The Trump administration is expected Thursday morning to formally revoke California’s authority to set auto emissions rules that are stricter than federal standards, taking a major step forward in the administration’s wide-ranging attack on efforts to fight climate change. Andrew Wheeler, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, and Elaine Chao, the transportation secretary, are scheduled to announce the formal abolition of the waiver, a keystone of California environmental policy, at the Washington headquarters of the E.P.A.

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A revocation of the waiver would have national significance. Tailpipe pollution is the United States’ largest source of planet-warming greenhouse gas pollution, and California, with roughly 35 million vehicles, is the nation’s largest auto market. California has historically set stronger pollution standards than the federal government, and many of those standards have ultimately influenced national and even international policy.

Thirteen other states follow California’s tighter tailpipe greenhouse gas standards, together representing roughly a third of the national auto market.