[ad_1]
Ford Motor Company cited Biden’s new administration as encouraging other automakers to drop their involvement in a lawsuit challenging California’s right to set more stringent exhaust emissions standards.
“Over the past year and a half of the Trump administration, we’ve basically split into two camps,” Kumar Galhotra, Ford president for the Americas and International Markets Group, wrote in a letter to others. automakers obtained by The Hill.
“With the election settled, the preemption struggle is now, at least for the next few years, essentially moot,” he said. “The most relevant question is therefore the question of standards.”
While the Trump administration rolled back ambitious mileage targets set for automakers under the Obama administration, it also revoked the waiver that for decades allowed California to develop higher emissions standards. strict regulations which in turn have been adopted by more than a dozen other states.
While many automakers have joined in the pursuit President Trump
Donald John TrumpGeraldo Rivera on Trump sowing doubt on election results: ‘Enough is enough now’ Murkowski: Trump should concede White House race Scott Atlas resigns from his post as Trump’s coronavirus advisor MORE, other automakers have signed an agreement with California agreeing to meet emission standards closer to those of Obama.
Automakers have long sought a national standard, which Galhotra said in the letter would be “of enormous value to the industry.”
“The Biden administration will not let Trump standards in effect, and whether through litigation and / or regulatory restart, the new team will move in a different, stricter direction. And they will do it with California built into the effort, whether formal or informal, ”he wrote.
Ford’s letter comes before a meeting of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a trade group representing automakers, and after a General Motors announcement that they would quit the lawsuit challenging California’s right to a waiver.
“To better foster the necessary dialogue, we are immediately withdrawing from the pre-emption litigation and invite other automakers to join us,” GM said last week.
In March, the Trump administration finalized standards requiring automakers to build fleets of around 40 miles per gallon by 2026, lowering mileage below what automakers have declared possible for them. These standards are now challenged in another lawsuit.
Five automakers, including Ford, have since signed agreements with California pledging to achieve mileage closer to the 55 mpg by 2025 required under Obama.
[ad_2]
Source link