AG Healey Joins Coalition of AGs in Opposing Trump’s Vehicle Emission Standards Roll Back
BOSTON – Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey today joined attorneys general from Fresh York, Maine, Maryland, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington State, and the District of Columbia, as well as the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection, in issuing the following joint statement in opposition to President Trump’s activity that directs federal agencies to reconsider vehicle emission standards:
 “President Trump’s act represents a dramatic wrong turn in our nation’s efforts to fight air pollution from passenger cars and trucks, and protect the health of our children, seniors, and all communities.
Weakening these commonsense standards would undermine successful efforts to combat the pollution emitted by vehicles – emissions that cause widespread, substantial harm to public health and are one of the largest sources of climate switch pollution. An extensive technical investigate by the Environmental Protection Agency already found that the standards are fully and economically achievable by the auto industry. Calming them would increase the air pollution that is responsible for premature death, asthma, and more – particularly in our most vulnerable communities.  
We will intensively oppose attempts by the Trump Administration to weaken our vehicle emission policies and put our public health at risk, and we won’t hesitate to stand up for the right of our states to adopt stricter pollution standards that provide critical protections to the health of our residents and our environmental resources.” 
Because motor vehicles emit a multitude of air pollutants harmful to human health and the environment and are a significant source of air pollution, Section two hundred two of the Clean Air Act requires EPA to establish national emission standards for fresh motor vehicles. Section two hundred nine of the Act authorizes the State of California to adopt emission standards that are generally more stringent than the federal standards, and Section one hundred seventy seven of the Act authorizes other states to adopt those same standards for fresh motor vehicles sold within their states.
In 2012, EPA adopted emission standards limiting greenhouse gas emissions from fresh passenger cars and light-duty trucks for model years 2017-25 and beyond. California has adopted parallel vehicle emission standards limiting greenhouse gas emissions for those same model years, which Fresh York and several other states have adopted as state law. The combined emission standards, together with harmonized emission standards for other pollutants that are on the books, are expected to result in substantial reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, dependency on foreign oil, and consumer fuel costs:
- Over the lifetimes of the vehicles sold during the 2017-2025 model years, the standards are expected to cut greenhouse gas emissions by two billion metric tons—the equivalent of the annual emissions of four hundred twenty two million cars presently on the road—and save approximately four billion barrels of oil.
- Combined with the very first phase of vehicle emission standards for greenhouse gases for model years 2012-16, the standards for the 2017-25 model year vehicles are projected to save families more than $1.7 trillion in fuel costs and reduce the country’s dependence on oil by more than two million barrels per day in 2025.
In January 2017, EPA determined, in its “midterm evaluation,” that the current federal standards applicable to cars and light duty trucks for model years 2022-25 are readily achievable by the auto industry. After an extensive technical review, based in significant part on information from industry, advocates, and other interested parties, EPA found that “automakers are well placed to meet the standards at lower costs than previous estimated.” The agency concluded that, while the record supported making the standards even more stringent, it determined “to retain the current standards to provide regulatory certainty for the auto industry.” California is in the process of completing a midterm review for its parallel standards after participating in the federal process and conducting its own analysis of the feasibility of the standards.