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Three years ago, the General Assembly voted to adopt emissions standards for new vehicles purchased in the commonwealth, favoring the strict rules developed by California over those enforced by the federal government.
Last week, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced that his administration would abandon those standards, and one need not be enthusiastic about the rules to be troubled by the controversial way Virginia’s chief executive did so.
State lawmakers approved a number of consequential climate policies in 2020 and 2021, including the Clean Energy and Community Flood Preparedness Act, the Virginia Clean Economy Act and the Clean Cars Virginia law. All three measures reflected mounting concern about the effects of climate change on commonwealth communities, including those in Hampton Roads, and a desire to reduce the carbon emissions warming the planet.
In adopting the clean cars law, Virginia’s legislature followed 15 other states in favoring vehicle emission standards developed in California that are more restrictive than those imposed under the federal Clean Air Act. A total of 17 other states now follow the Golden State’s rules, which are allowed thanks to a waiver from the Environmental Protection Agency that grants California the authority to enforce tougher standards than what Washington requires.
California’s legislature subsequently passed another version of its emissions standards in 2022, which includes a roadmap that would see all new cars and light trucks sold in California be zero-emission vehicles by 2035. That’s a controversial requirement and one that several states using the California emissions rules may not follow.
In Virginia, though, the issue became a prominent campaign talking point last year for Republicans seeking to regain control of the legislature. The governor made repealing the clean cars law a priority when he crisscrossed the commonwealth stumping for GOP candidates.
His message was clear: Elect my colleagues or California’s standards will be the law in Virginia.
Voters listened to his pitch, considered its merits, and rejected it. Democrats protected their majority in the state Senate and took control of the House.
In January, Republican lawmakers introduced bills that would have repealed the clean cars law in Virginia, the third consecutive year they did so. And for the third consecutive year, the legislation failed to pass.
Having been bested at the polls and in the legislature, Youngkin then decided that neither mattered and he would do what he wanted. Armed with a favorable opinion penned by Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares, he argued last week that he could simply withdraw Virginia from the mandate unilaterally.
If that playbook sounds familiar, it’s because he took similar action to nullify the Clean Energy and Community Flood Preparedness Act. That law authorized Virginia’s membership in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a multistate, market-based, carbon cap-and-trade program to reduce emissions from power producers.
After Republican lawmakers failed to repeal the law through the legislative process, Youngkin directed his appointees on the Virginia Air Pollution Control Board to withdraw the commonwealth from RGGI through a regulatory vote. Though popular opinion showed strong support for membership, and Virginia had received about $828 million for resilience projects and energy-efficiency programs, the governor marched ahead.
That action is being challenged in the courts, as Youngkin’s decision to abandon the clean car law will likely be as well. One difference: In the RGGI case, the attorney general’s office successfully blocked release of an advisory opinion that the governor’s actions were unlawful. This time, Miyares’ opinion accompanied the announcement.
This governor has spent much of his term undermining environmental laws and straining to pull Virginia backward at a time when action on the climate crisis is vital. For those of us in Hampton Roads, his backward agenda is a slap in the face.
But for the commonwealth at large, Youngkin’s contempt for the legislative process and the public will is the story here. The governor made his case to the people in the fall, and the people rendered their judgment. Even those who dislike the clean cars law should find that distressing.
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