Vermont Business MagazineAttorney General Thomas JDonovan, Jr, announced today that Vermont has joined 12 attorneys general in sending a letter to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) opposing the Agency’s position on vehicle emission standards. In the letter, the attorneys general object to the EPA’s position on the midterm evaluation of federal standards for greenhouse gas emissions from cars and light-duty trucks. The letter promises that the States will take necessary action if the EPA attempts to roll back these important standards.
“We want clean air,” said Attorney General Donovan. “Vermont has been a national leader in the arena of auto emissions. These emission standards are essential in the fight to protect our environment. Rolling them back should not be an option.”
In 2012, the EPA adopted increasingly stringent standards for greenhouse gas emissions from cars and light-duty trucks for the 2017-25 model years. The EPA also agreed to complete a midterm evaluation to assess if the standards were achievable of for model years 2022-25. The EPA completed its midterm evaluation in January 2017 and found that current greenhouse gas emission standards for model years 2022-25 can be met using existing available vehicle technology, that the emission standards are feasible at reasonable cost, will achieve significant carbon dioxide emissions reductions, and will provide significant economic and environmental benefits to consumers. The EPA made a final decision to keep these standards in place.
Despite these findings, in March 2017, the new EPA administration announced that it would “revisit” EPA’s midterm evaluation decision. This announcement was followed by a May 2 letter to California Governor Brown in which the EPA asserted that the previous midterm evaluation was legally and procedurally flawed.
The letter from the attorneys general expresses its strong disagreement with the EPA’s contention that the previous midterm evaluation process was flawed, providing a point-by-point rebuttal of the criticisms. The letter states, “the characterization in your May 2 letter that EPA ‘circumvented’ the required legal and scientific processes in its midterm evaluation is erroneous and inconsistent with your stated desire to ‘follow the letter of the law.’ ”
Joining Vermont as signees on the letter were the Attorneys General of Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Washington, as well as the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. Clickhereto read a copy of the letter.
Vermont AG: June 13, 2017