State of California, et al. v. EPA

Case Updates

The EPA reversed its position and granted California’s request for a federal preemption waiver to enforce its own automobile emissions standards. Accordingly, the parties filed a joint motion to dismiss the case as moot, and the DC Circuit granted the motion.

NCLC defended in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit the EPA’s decision to deny California’s request to allow the state to regulate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from motor vehicles. The Clean Air Act (CAA) gives the EPA discretion whether to waive the Act’s preemption of state regulation of motor vehicle emissions. Granting California’s waiver request could trigger an unprecedented expansion of regulation under the CAA: an additional million facilities – everything from apartment buildings, to houses of worship, to dry cleaners - could be subject to extensive regulation as stationary sources of GHGs.