The US administration believes that only federal agencies have the authority to decide on the regulation of vehicles.
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After waving the threat for over two years, the Trump administration has decided to take action. The same day that the US president was visiting California – the first move from his mandate in the San Francisco area, one of the country's most hostile to his policies – his entourage said he had the intends to revoke Thursday, September 18, the derogation, almost 50 years, which allows the Golden State to be at the forefront of the defense of the environment in the United States.
According to the press, the decision is to be formally announced Thursday by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), while Mr. Trump visits the strengthening of border facilities in San Diego after completing his election fundraising tour in Los Angeles. The administration believes that only federal agencies have the authority to decide on fuel pollution standards and that California's initiatives to impose more stringent emission standards on vehicles go beyond the latitude left to the states of the United States. union by the federal system.
Four builders follow California
The California derogation dates back to the time when Los Angeles was choking on exhaust fumes in the late 1960s. Two Republicans, both Californians, agreed to give the state an independent authority to fix emission standards for vehicles: Richard Nixon, the president who promulgated the Clean Air Act, the anti-pollution law of 1970. And Ronald Reagan, the governor of the state. Since then, California has taken more stringent regulations than elsewhere, followed by some fifteen states, forcing automakers to adapt. She set herself the goal of seeing at least a million electric or hybrid vehicles on the roads by 2025.
Trump's decision comes as four automakers – Ford, Honda, Volkswagen and BMW, accounting for a third of new car sales – have decided to follow California over the federal government and enforce energy efficiency standards. set by the local air quality monitoring agency. This decision, announced in July, had led to angry tweets from Mr. Trump, who instead intends to relax the standards of pollution of the exhaust pipes.
