WASHINGTON, June 14, 2022 – Today, national business association Advanced Energy Economy (AEE) joined with public utilities and privately owned power generators in filing a motion to intervene in the U.S. Court of Appeals case Ohio v. EPA with the intent of defending the Biden Administration’s reinstatement of California’s long-standing Clean Air Act waiver. That waiver allows the state to set vehicle emissions standards that are more protective of public health than federal standards, and to implement zero-emissions standards for light-duty vehicles, both of which other states are allowed to adopt as well.
Calpine Corp., National Grid USA, New York Power Authority, and the Power Companies Climate Coalition also intervened today. Together with AEE, these parties represent entities that will provide the technologies, services, and clean electricity needed to power a transportation system that runs on electric power and produces less smog-forming emissions.
“California’s long-standing right to establish more stringent auto emissions standards is foundational to achieving the Clean Air Act’s goals of protecting public health and forcing the development of low and zero-emissions technologies like electric vehicles,” said Jeff Dennis, General Counsel and Managing Director at AEE. “California’s innovation-driving standards have long provided needed certainty for businesses tasked with helping to power the transition to zero-emission transportation by building and investing in clean electricity resources, grid improvements, and vehicle charging infrastructure. AEE is intervening today to ensure that our business voice is heard in this case.”
California’s waiver was illegally revoked by the previous administration, an unprecedented action that threatened not only California’s air quality and its long-held right to set higher standards, but also the rights of the 18 states that voluntarily adopted California’s standards, as Congress allowed in the Clean Air Act. Under the Biden Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reissued the waiver.
“EPA’s action in this case simply returned the framework of vehicle emissions standards under the Clean Air Act to the status quo that Congress established decades ago, and along with it the certainty that has played a critical role in driving industry innovation that reduces smog and reduces costs for customers by improving vehicle efficiency,” added Dennis.
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