Trump Administration Disregards California’s Climate Crisis

WASHINGTON – While millions of Californians suffer from the effects of massive wildfires that have blotted out the sun and rained ash on communities across the state, the Trump administration late last night blithely dismissed any compelling need for the state to address climate change.

In a legal filing, Trump administration lawyers argued that they could revoke California’s authority to regulate tailpipe carbon pollution because the state doesn’t “need” greenhouse gas standards “to meet compelling and extraordinary conditions.”

NOTE: Please contact us for a copy of the government’s filing in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

The following is a statement from Ian Fein, an attorney at NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) who lives and works in Northern California:

“No sane person would look at the blood-red sky outside my home and doubt that we are facing `compelling and extraordinary’ air quality conditions as a result of greenhouse gas emissions.”

“While millions of acres in California burn this year, we’ve been suffering from dangerous levels of soot and ash in the air for weeks. It stings the eyes and throat. Now the fires have literally blotted the sun from the sky. I’ve lived in California for most of my life and had never seen anything like it.”

“Amid this crisis, the Trump administration argues that California shouldn’t have the authority to address the largest source of carbon pollution, vehicle emissions. Apparently, they want us to give up the fight. We won’t. We are going to keep on fighting for climate action, because our lives – and the lives of our children – depend upon it.”

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NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 3 million members and online activists. Since 1970, our lawyers, scientists, and other environmental specialists have worked to protect the world's natural resources, public health, and the environment. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Bozeman, MT, and Beijing. Visit us at www.nrdc.org and follow us on Twitter @NRDC.