On the day he took the oath of office, President Trump promised to sign numerous executive orders aimed at undermining California's strict emissions standards, rolling back Biden-era environmental protections and boosting U.S. fossil fuel production. To thunderous applause – first in the Capitol Rotunda and then in the Capital One Arena – Trump assured that his administration would “practice baby drill.”
Among other expected measures, Trump indicated in his inaugural address that he intends to lift California's nationwide ban on the sale of new cars that run exclusively on gasoline starting in 2035. The Advanced Clean Cars II rule requires an increasing percentage of passenger vehicles sold in California to power dealerships using zero-emission electric batteries or hydrogen fuel cells, with a small share of plug-in hybrids permitted. It is expected to be fully effective in a decade, but the automotive industry is not on track to achieve this ambitious goal.
“We will revoke the electric vehicle mandate to save our auto industry and keep my sacred promise to our great American autoworkers,” he said in the Capitol Rotunda. “In other words, you can buy the car of your choice.”
Trump is an ardent supporter of the fossil fuel industry and an outspoken denier of climate change. His executive actions in the coming weeks could result in important parts of the Golden State's environmental agenda being nixed or significantly delayed.
The impact on California
California, the most environmentally conscious state in the country, is already facing major challenges due to global warming.
The Los Angeles area is suffering from the most devastating wildfires in American history, which have been burning for nearly two weeks and are not yet fully contained. Scientists say these natural disasters have become more difficult to manage as climate change has led to greater fluctuations between extremely wet and extremely dry conditions. Large parts of the state are struggling with severe drought and water shortages. Rising sea levels and violent storms threaten the state's extensive coastline.
“California has ambitious goals and big risks, as the wildfires in Los Angeles in recent weeks have shown,” said Cara Horowitz, executive director of the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the UCLA School of Law. “There isn’t much time – and none of us – to address climate change. To the extent that the Trump administration and the fights it provokes are slowing things down, that's not great for any of us. It’s certainly not good for achieving California’s ambitious climate goals.”
Under the federal Clean Air Act, California is the only state with the authority to set stricter vehicle emissions standards than federal standards due to the state's notoriously poor air quality. However, the state must obtain federal approval from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency before enforcing the rules.
According to the American Lung Assn, the Advanced Clean Cars II rule was expected to prevent 1,287 premature deaths and provide $13 billion in public health benefits over the coming decades. Additionally, 11 other states have adopted California's zero emissions regulation, meaning the rule would essentially be in effect for about 133 million people, or nearly 40% of the country's population.
That would change with Trump's executive order. However, environmental groups promised to file lawsuits against the order.
“Trump is attacking the single largest step ever taken to combat climate pollution,” said Dan Becker, director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s Safe Climate Transportation campaign. “This is a victory for his cronies in the oil and auto industries, but it could well leave his constituents feeling buyer's remorse. Consumers will pay more at the pump, automakers will lose electric vehicle buyers, and health care costs will rise because people breathe dirtier air.
“With the fires still smoldering in LA, attempting to strip California of clean car protections is cynical, cruel and illegal. Our children and everyone with lungs will pay the price for these politically motivated rollbacks in protecting our air and climate.”
California is already far behind on its greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals, in part because of a lack of consistent cooperation with the Biden administration's Environmental Protection Agency, which failed to approve several state air pollution regulations in the final days of the lame-duck presidency.
Without federal approval, California authorities shelved plans to enforce ambitious rules that would have aimed to phase out fossil-fuel truck fleets and locomotives in favor of zero-emission alternatives.
“The honest truth is that we have been unable to meet our own 2030 climate goals for some time,” said Danny Cullenward, a California-based climate economist and senior fellow at the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania. “And that was the case when we had a productive collaboration with the federal government, which took ambitious steps in many areas to advance climate policy. Now the prospects for this are reversing. Not only will we not have that partnership, we will experience active hostility.”
However, the Biden administration allocated billions of dollars through the Inflation Reduction Act for government agencies and industry in California to purchase zero-emission equipment. But Trump has signaled he wants to eliminate that funding pool. On Monday, he signed an executive order effectively dismantling a White House office created by Biden that oversees the distribution of Inflation Reduction Act funds. He has that too threatened to withhold disaster aid to California if the state does not agree to certain of its own policies.
“It is frankly outrageous and un-American to talk about conditioning disaster relief,” Cullenward said. “Such games could be played with any part of the federal budget’s interaction with programs and activities in California.”
National Energy Emergency
These and other actions Trump plans to take will come under the umbrella of another of his Inauguration Day promises: declaring a national “energy emergency” that would give him more power to boost the production and use of fossil fuels.
A declaration of a national emergency would give the president expanded powers to override existing laws and take action without requiring input from Congress. In fact, Trump declared a national emergency in 2019 Exploit federal laws This allowed him to speed up the construction of a wall on the southern border.
The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University has 137 powers marked A president can exercise when he determines there is a national emergency. One of them would allow the president to access it Strategic petroleum reserve to increase the supply of crude oil. Another would give him the power to divert coal to a power plant.
In the event of a national emergency, governors can also ask the president to do so suspend enforcement des Clean Air Act Designed to limit pollution from stationary sources such as refineries, factories and power plants.
Withdrawal from the Paris Agreement
Trump also announced for the second time his intention to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement, the landmark pact between nearly 200 countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that are warming the planet.
The 2016 agreement aimed to limit the increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius, or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, to prevent catastrophic effects of global warming. It requires countries to make specific commitments to reduce their emissions, increasing every five years. Countries are also expected to invest in measures that make them more resilient to the impacts of climate change.
“The United States withdrawing from the Paris Agreement is a travesty,” said Rachel Cleetus, policy director and senior economist for the Climate and Energy Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists. “Such a move clearly contradicts scientific realities and shows a government cruelly indifferent to the harsh impacts of climate change experienced by people in the United States and around the world.” Withdrawing from the Paris Agreement is a waiver responsibility and undermines the global action that people at home and abroad urgently need.”
Although Trump was critical of this early in his first term, he was unable to begin the year-long process to formally withdraw until November 4, 2019, the earliest possible date provided for in the treaty. Once completed, the impact was short-lived – President Biden rejoined the treaty on his first day in office in January 2021.
The clock for the second withdrawal begins ticking as soon as the US formally informs the United Nations of its intention. According to the United Nations, the United States is expected to participate “fully” in the agreement during this one-year period
Climate activists called on Trump to reconsider his decision, which they said would put U.S. companies at a competitive disadvantage by favoring the fossil fuel industry at the expense of renewable alternatives.
“The rest of the world is transitioning to clean energy,” Manish Bapna, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, said in a statement Monday. “This will slow this transition, not stop it.”
In his first term, Trump rolled back dozens of Obama-era environmental policies, including fuel economy and power plant emissions standards. He also revoked the federal exemption from California's emissions standards (which were part of the state's Advanced Clean Cars I law), triggering a flood of legal action. Biden later reinstated the exemption, reaffirming the state's ability to regulate vehicle emissions.
But when Trump abandoned many of the country's climate promises, he faced intense backlash. A coalition of states, cities and companies began making their own climate commitments.
California was among them: Gov. Newsom signed climate agreements with leaders in China, while state regulators struck deals with automakers to provide regulatory clarity.
“Oddly enough, there was a way in which Trump abdicated climate leadership in his first administration, for example by withdrawing from the Paris Agreement, thereby opening the space for California to take an even greater leadership role than before,” Horowitz said , the director of environmental law at UCLA.
The same could apply to Trump's second term.
“The governor is 100% focused on the fires in Los Angeles,” Newsom spokesman Daniel Villasenor said. “Just as it did during the first term of the Trump Administration, California will continue to fight for clean air and clean water for all Californians.”
Times staff writer Russ Mitchell contributed to this report.