In the weird world of environmental regulation, there are two seats of power: Washington, D.C., and Sacramento, Calif. The first location is obvious: it’s the home of the Environmental Protection Agency. However, what’s lesser known is that the Clean Air Act has a special carve-out allowing the California Air Resources Board to set stricter vehicle emissions standards than the EPA.
This waiver made a lot of sense when the act was first passed in 1963, with smog plaguing Los Angeles and posing a serious public health risk. Fifty-five years later, however, California’s green police are weaponizing the loophole, using the threat of climate change to set unrealistic standards that threaten the auto industry and car-owning citizens across the country.
