Prius

Make
Toyota
Segment
Hatchback

Earlier this year, US Environmental Protection Agency chief, Scott Pruitt, announced plans to lower emission standards for model year 2022 to 2025 vehicles. This decision by the Trump Administration went against an earlier decision by the Obama Administration, angering several states including California. Automotive News now reports that California and 16 other states plan to file a lawsuit in federal court, challenging the administration's ability to declare the previous standards as "not appropriate."

Automakers such as General Motors and Toyota want the Trump Administration and California to reach an agreement to extend the previous national standards. "The standards we are fighting to protect were adopted in 2012 and don't take effect until 2022. They were a lifeline thrown to an industry that was in trouble and desperate for stability. They were based on the best judgment of engineers about what technology could achieve. And in fact they are being achieved today, years ahead of the deadlines, because of the good work of the auto industry," Mary Nichols, chair of the California Air Resources Board, said in a statement. A copy of the states' petition has even been made online.

The states believe they have a reasonable argument to Pruitt's decision. "Based on no new information or facts, [Pruitt] wants to roll back all that progress in the name of deregulation. The Final Determination is just the first step but it is intended to provide the legal basis for a decision that has already been made: to halt the progress that regulators and industry have made toward a new generation of vehicles. It does not withstand scrutiny and it will not stand" Nichols added.