Citing climate-damaging tailpipe emissions, 23 US governors signed a pledge backing California leaders in their showdown with the administration of US President Donald Trump over its plans to relax vehicle mileage standards.
The stand by leaders of states and Puerto Rico — nearly all Democrats — comes as the Trump administration moves to freeze tougher mileage standards laid out by former US president Barack Obama, in one of the previous administration’s key efforts against climate change.
The Trump administration says US consumers increasingly want bigger, gas-guzzling SUVs and pickup trucks. It also argues that demanding more fuel-efficient vehicles would drive up automobile costs and keep less-safe, older vehicles on the road longer.
Many engineers have challenged that claim.
The governors’ pledge on Tuesday commits to sticking to the pre-Trump mileage goals — a program of annual tightening in mileage standards that reduce climate-changing carbon emissions.
“We will not compromise on our responsibility to protect the health of our communities, our climate and the savings consumers stand to gain at the pump,” said the pledge, also signed by California Governor Gavin Newsom. “We will continue to pursue additional concrete actions to fulfill this duty and defend against any threats.”
Besides California and Puerto Rico, the leaders of Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin signed the pledge.
The US Environmental Protection Agency did not immediately comment on the pledge, which was made public overnight.
The commitment underscores prospects for years of legal challenges and regulatory uncertainty for automakers if the Trump administration moves ahead on the mileage freeze over objections from California and other states.
Trump has pushed automakers to support him in his bid to relax mileage standards. Last month, major automakers instead appealed for the administration to return to talks with California, after breaking off negotiations.
Newsom said that he was not optimistic about any breakthroughs with the administration ahead of it issuing its mileage rule.
“I don’t sense they’re sincere in their commitment to sit down and negotiate,” he said, citing the administration’s overall backing for the oil and gas industry.
US Congress for decades has granted California authority to set its own, tougher mileage standards as a way of fighting the state’s chronic smog. About a dozen states follow California’s mileage standards, although under Obama the federal and state mileage standards were the same.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
‘DELUSIONAL’: Targeting the families of Hamas’ leaders would not push the group to change its position or to give up its demands for Palestinians, Ismail Haniyeh said Israeli aircraft on Wednesday killed three sons of Hamas’ top political leader in the Gaza Strip, striking high-stakes targets at a time when Israel is holding delicate ceasefire negotiations with the militant group. Hamas said four of the leader’s grandchildren were also killed. Ismail Haniyeh’s sons are among the highest-profile figures to be killed in the war so far. Israel said they were Hamas operatives, and Haniyeh accused Israel of acting in “the spirit of revenge and murder.” The deaths threatened to strain the internationally mediated ceasefire talks, which appeared to gain steam in recent days even as the sides remain far
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of