SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A group of 25 California state legislators sent a letter to the state’s congressional delegation urging members to oppose 13 Congressional Review Act resolutions that would strip California of some of its strongest tools for reducing air pollution and the release of planet warming emissions—clean air standards for cars, trucks, small engines, ships and ports. The Union of Concerned Scientists has been tracking this issue closely. Congress is scheduled to vote on the future of these crucial pollution standards Tuesday afternoon, targeting Clean Air Act waivers that enable the state to enforce these safeguards.
Lana Cohen
Revoking these standards would undermine California’s ability to meet federal air-quality requirements, could increase the release of planet-warming emissions and expose communities to higher levels of air pollution, and potentially jeopardize billions of dollars in federal transportation funding, the legislators say.
It would also force California to use other likely more expensive and less effective tactics to meet air quality standards.
“Considering the compelling and extraordinary air quality circumstances faced by Californians, and the economic costs to California that would occur by revoking these standards, we urge Members representing our same constituencies to protect California’s statutory right to regulate in this manner, and wholly reject the resolutions being pushed forward,” wrote the legislators.