Editorial: Defending Calif.’s right to clean air
Publisher’s note: This editorial is from the May 2, 2018, Los Angeles Times.
World leaders may negotiate their climate change accords in foreign capitals, but the efforts to stem global warming may succeed or fail based on what happens in United States courtrooms, where the state of California is leading the charge to block the Trump administration’s anti-environment, anti-science agenda.
On Tuesday, Gov. Jerry Brown and state Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced that they have filed the state’s 10th, and potentially most consequential, lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Joined by 16 other states and the District of Columbia, California is trying to preserve a planned increase in vehicle fuel-economy standards, which were designed to make passenger cars more fuel efficient and less polluting.