California and the Biden administration are urging the Supreme Court to reject a bid by fossil fuel interests to overturn the state’s authority to set more stringent emissions standards for cars and trucks than the federal government.
In briefs filed Monday, state Attorney General Rob Bonta and EPA said the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit got it right when it ruled in April that industry challengers and Republican-led states had failed to show how the courts could fix any harm they suffered as a result of California’s Clean Air Act waiver.
“The meritless nature of petitioners’ arguments and the lack of any conflict of authority is reason enough to deny” a look at the case, wrote Bonta, a Democrat. He said Congress has enacted laws that treat certain states differently “since the founding” of the country.
He said that California’s waiver — which enables the state to craft stronger vehicle emissions rules than EPA — is allowed because of the state’s lengthy experience regulating air emissions and the state’s unique pollution challenges.
