Last fall, we featured California reporter Katy Grimes’ book, California’s War Against Trump, which chronicled the regulatory and legal volleys that the state’s politicians has lobbed against President Trump since the day of his historic election.
Now President Trump is turning the tables on the Golden State #Resistance. This weekend, we noted that the EPA was looking to reverse directions Obama-era fuel economy standards for cars. One of the concerns about the new proposals is compliance with California’s more stringent standards, based on green justice “science”.
Now, it appears Trump is moving to rescind the formal permissions that allow California to set its own standards.
The Environmental Protection Agency on Monday took steps to challenge California’s decades-old right to set its own air pollution rules, setting up a showdown between the federal government and a state that has emerged as a bulwark against the Trump administration’s policies.The E.P.A. statement was part of the agency’s widely expected decision to reconsider, and most likely roll back, Obama-era rules requiring automakers to hit ambitious emissions and mileage standards by 2025. The statement, though, was notable for the forcefulness of its language suggesting that the Trump administration would take on California’s authority to set its own rules.Scott Pruitt, the E.P.A. administrator, signaled that he aimed to make California fall in line. The Obama administration, he said, “made assumptions about the standards that didn’t comport with reality, and set the standards too high.” California’s history of setting its own emissions rules “doesn’t mean that one state can dictate standards for the rest of the country,” Mr. Pruitt said.
I have been following the Department of Justice lawsuit against Califoria’s “Sanctuary State” rules, which has now been joined by over a dozen red and purple states, as well as a handful of California cities and counties. The DOJ has not lodged another lawsuit, this one regarding the sale of federal lands.
The Justice Department has filed a lawsuit against California over a state law giving it the power to override the sale of federal lands, the department announced Monday.The suit marks the latest battle between President Trump and the nation’s most populous state, where Democrats have tried aggressively to thwart the president’s agenda. Last month, Sessions visited Sacramento to announce he was suing California over laws that restrict cooperation with federal immigration authorities.Under the law, which was passed in September, California has the first right to purchase federal lands or to arrange for a specific buyer. Lawmakers had expressed concerns that the Trump administration would allow more logging, oil drilling or development….”The Constitution empowers the federal government—not state legislatures—to decide when and how federal lands are sold,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement. “California was admitted to the Union upon the express condition that it would never interfere with the disposal of federal land. And yet, once again, the California legislature has enacted an extreme state law attempting to frustrate federal policy.”
Meanwhile, it appears that Huntington Beach will be the next California city to opt out of enforcing the “Sanctuary State” rules.
If California’s politicians are so keen to stop climate change, maybe they should focus more on the needs of their citizens and less on Trump. At this point, the regulatory war is so hot that it’s contributing to global warming.
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