Californians not the only ones who oppose decision to roll back emission standards

“Who today is willing to say that Texas and California and the remainder of the Southwest would be better off if they were governed by Mexico?”
Few are probably willing to go that far to one of America’s great historian’s conjectures.
But it’s beginning to look like California would be better off governed by anyone but the Trump administration.
On Tuesday, the EPA’s administrator announced revisions to vehicle fuel emissions standards are in the works.
Briefly, major U.S. automakers readily agreed to the Obama administration’s plan to coordinate pollution and efficiency standards in 2009.
Standards, by and large, are set by the EPA, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and California.
At the time, automakers had just taken out an $80 billion bailout from the federal government.
The plan’s purpose was to intensify development of highly fuel-efficient vehicles, including hybrid and electric ones. But shortly after President Trump’s inauguration, America’s Big Three automakers met with him to complain that Obama’s tailpipe standards were unrealistic.
A 2012 decision nearly doubled the fuel efficiency standards for many new car models to 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. The intent of reducing fuel consumption is that it leads to lower vehicle emissions.
California’s role in this is a result of a special waiver under the 1970 Clean Air Act giving it leeway to enforce stronger air pollution standards than the federal government’s.
Besides the enormous car market in California, 12 other states, including Pennsylvania, traditionally follow its lead. Together, those states represent more than a third of the domestic auto market.
It’s apparent that California — alone the eighth largest economy in the world — is prepared to defend its greenhouse gas standards.
Not to mention its immigration policies, its laws that prevent transfer of federal lands and other issues with the Trump administration’s policies.
We are not California and have disagreements with the Golden State on any number of issues.
But we do agree that rolling back efficiency rules for vehicles is a terrible idea and just one more step backward on protecting the environment.
This issue has little to do with the free market and everything to do with public safety, which is our government’s primary charge.
Raising tailpipe emissions of carbon dioxide can only lead to more pollution, more illness and more death.
What the changes to these emissions will be has yet to be determined but we have come to expect the worst lately.
America can design and build cleaner and more fuel-efficient vehicles that are affordable.
And that can-do spirit is not just California dreamin’.