Today the U.S. Senate voted to roll back California’s legal right to set air pollution standards from car pollution.
This is yet another attack by this federal administration on our states’ authority to protect people’s air and lungs from polluting vehicles on our roads.
There are no winners here except Big Oil’s profits: we will breathe more unhealthy air, we will see more climate disasters, and we will fall behind in the transition to cleaner transportation. It comes at a time while the U.S. House of Representatives is also considering massive budget cuts that would gut the Inflation Reduction Act. It’s tough news. We are calling on our elected leaders to hold the line.
Also in case you missed it (in the ongoing rush of difficult news), several weeks ago the Trump administration illegally withheld millions of dollars allocated to states’ clean energy projects, including building out infrastructure for electric vehicles. Today we joined a lawsuit to defend against that rollback.
Both of these actions have significant impacts on everybody in Washington and Oregon, and beyond. Our clean energy laws and funding are key pieces in the puzzle of how we get beyond fossil fuels for fueling transportation. These attempted rollbacks are desperate and illegal political stunts.
Meanwhile, Washington Governor Bob Ferguson last weekend signed a new law upgrading the state’s clean fuel standard! And the Oregon Legislature has one month left in session, where they are hoping to pass a transportation package.
Check out this joint news release on our lawsuit filing, led by Earthjustice, to learn more and stay engaged.
Together we won’t back down.
