Politics

23 states sue over Trump plan to ease auto emission standards

Led by California, almost two dozen states filed a federal lawsuit on Friday to stop the Trump Administration from revoking a waiver which has allowed California and other states to set tougher auto emission standards than required by the federal government.

“California won’t bend to the President’s reckless and politically motivated attacks on our clean car waiver,” said California Governor Gavin Newsom, who has clashed with the President on a variety of policy fronts.

"The Administration insists on attacking the authority of California and other states to tackle air pollution and protect public health," added California Attorney General Xavier Becerra.

But under federal law, California had the right to ask for a waiver to permit tighter emission controls on new cars - and the state had been doing so for nearly 50 years.

A number of others states had joined in accepting those same requirements.

The Trump Administration argues there should only be a single national standard for emissions and gas mileage.

The change by the feds "will insure there is one - and only one - set of national fuel economy standards, as Congress mandated and intended," said Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao on Thursday.

The lawsuit can be seen here.