Former California Governor Jerry Brown criticized General Motors Co on Tuesday for taking side with the Trump administration in its bid to block California from setting its own fuel efficiency and tailpipe emission regulations for passenger cars and trucks.
“It’s really something at this very moment when California is burning that General Motors jumps on the bandwagon as Trump’s lapdog to join the opposition to undercut California’s regulations,” Brown stated, referencing the wildfires presently besieging California.
In a joint filing Monday in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals – made together with Toyota Motor, Hyundai Motor, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV and several other car manufacturers – GM stated it backed the administration in its closely-watched clash with California over fuel economy standards.
With the No. 1 American automaker as its ally, the filing marked a victory for the Trump administration in what critics have defined as one of its most harmful efforts to roll back rules designed to combat climate change.
In September, the administration stated it would revoke California’s authority to set strict auto pollution regulations that almost two dozen states have adopted. Those states, consisting of New York, New Mexico and Minnesota, took legal actions against the administration to prevent Trump from blocking the California standard.
Brown deviated from prepared testimony before a House hearing about the effects of President Donald Trump’s rollback of Obama-era fuel efficiency standards for vehicles, which were based on California’s standard, to call out GM for fighting efforts to combat climate change.
GM and other automakers requested to intervene in the lawsuit debating the administration’s rule provided “vehicle manufacturers with the certainty that states cannot interfere with federal fuel economy standards.”
They broke with other significant automakers consisting of Ford Motor, Honda Motor and Volkswagen AG, which did not intervene on the administration’s side after declaring a voluntary deal with California in July on emissions regulations.
Brown stated this was the third time GM has taken action against California’s air pollution and vehicle emissions regulations.
“Now they come for the third round and they join in a shameless effort to protect their short term profits,” stated the former governor, who served four terms – two in the 1970s and between 2011 and January 2019.
During the last few weeks, the Trump administration has gone after California on other fronts. It has accused the state to have failed to enforce the U.S. Clean Air Act and talked about withdrawing billions of dollars in federal highway funds in response.
Last week, the Department of Justice took legal action against California for entering into a climate agreement with Canada’s Quebec province that connects their respective carbon cap-and-trade programs.
Brown, who recently created a climate change partnership here with Chinese authorities at the University of California, stated the US is going to fall behind China and the EU on the deployment of electric automobiles.
“The combustion car is going the way of the dodo bird. You have to get with it or get out of the way,” he stated.
