Ten AGs Sent Letter Praising House Subcommittees’ Hearing on National Clean Car Standards

JUNE 20, 2019

New York Attorney General Letitia James led a coalition of 10 attorneys general in sending a letter to the chairs and ranking members of two subcommittees of the House Energy & Commerce Committee praising their decision to hold a joint hearing on the importance of preserving national Clean Car Standards. The coalition emphasized that the rollback proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is “antithetical to EPA’s and NHTSA’s respective missions” and runs “directly contrary to the fundamental commands of the Clean Air Act and the Energy Policy and Conservation Act.” The attorneys general, whose states account for more than one-third of the U.S. auto market, also condemned the agencies’ failure to conduct mandatory consultation with state and local governments while developing the proposal — a fact that the agencies misrepresented in the proposed rule. The attorneys general reiterated their intent to sue the EPA and NHTSA if the proposal is finalized, and emphasized “this is a fight we should not have to have with our own federal government.”