May 13th, 2022 by WCBC Radio
West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey has joined a lawsuit along with his counterparts in 16 states challenging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s choice to allow California to exercise extraordinary authority under the Clean Air Act.
The exemption would allow California to impose its Advanced Clean Cars program on all new motor vehicles. The Clean Air Act preempts all other states’ emission standards for new vehicles unless they adopt standards identical to California’s.
In the lawsuit, the attorneys general argue this special treatment violates the Constitution, which creates a federalist framework in which all states are equal and none is more equal than others – and the Clean Air Act disregards that design.
“The Act simply leaves California with a slice of its sovereign authority that Congress withdraws from every other state,” Attorney General Morrisey said. “The EPA cannot selectively waive the Act’s preemption for California alone because that favoritism violates the states’ equal sovereignty.”
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