Supreme Court Hears Arguments Related to California’s Clean Air Protections

The Supreme Court will hear arguments today in Diamond Alternative Energy LLC v. EPA, a case about whether fuel industry groups have legal standing to challenge EPA’s preemption waiver for California’s Advanced Clean Car I standards. Environmental Defense Fund is a party to the case. 

“California’s clean car protections have saved hundreds of lives, have provided enormous health benefits, and have saved families money. They are vital safeguards for Californians and for people in the 17 other states who have adopted the program – people who are suffering from severe smog and soot and from the deadly wildfires, heatwaves and storms caused by climate change.

“California’s authority to protect people from vehicle tailpipe pollution is enshrined in our country’s foundational environmental laws and has been working successfully for more than half a century. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has already unanimously rejected challenges to EPA’s preemption waiver for California’s Advanced Clean Car I program, and today the Supreme Court will only consider one part of those challenges – a narrow question about who has grounds to bring a challenge to court. California’s bedrock legal authority to adopt pollution safeguards, and the life-saving Advanced Clean Car I program created under it, will remain in effect and will continue to protect the lives and health of millions of people.”

             - Vickie Patton, General Counsel, Environmental Defense Fund