Court rejects challenge to California’s clean air rules trump said he’d kill
The US Supreme Court today rejected a bid by Ohio and other states to stop California from implementing its own clean air rules, a legal right that California has had since the 60s which Donald Trump has repeatedly tried and failed to remove.
Ever since the 1960s, California has been able to set its own clean air rules, as long as they are at least as strict as federal clean air rules. California was granted this waiver in the Clean Air Act as recognition of its unique air quality challenges.
When the link between gasoline-burning vehicles and smog was discovered, California was building its own clean air rules at the same time as the federal government was.
At the time (and still), Los Angeles was choked with smog. The city is built around car transportation (after public transit in the city was destroyed by literal cartoon villians), has unique geography which traps smog above most of its population, and is also currently home to the largest container ports in America, through which ~40% of the country’s containerized traffic now comes.
The central valley of California is also home to a lot of smog – with the most agriculturally productive land in the country producing half of the nation’s fruits, nuts and vegetables. But it’s surrounded by mountains, and smog has nowhere to go.
Since the federal government didn’t want to pre-empt efforts that were already underway in California (under then-Governor Ronald Reagan), and acknowledging that California’s challenges were unique, it allowed the EPA to review California’s rules and grant it a waiver to run under its own clean air regulations as long as they are at least as good as the EPA’s.
Other states are allowed to follow these rules, but only if they copy them exactly. These are known as “section 177 states,” named after the section of the Clean Air Act that grants this waiver, or “CARB” states, named for the California Air Resources Board which creates the state’s regulations.
So for the last 60 years, California has mostly run under its own clean air rules. There was a brief period during the Obama administration where California and federal rules were harmonized – but industry lobbying and the meddling of an ignorant reality TV host resulted in a shattering of that harmony, giving companies a more difficult regulatory environment.
These clean air rules have been a success, resulting in a >98% reduction in vehicle-based pollutants in the LA area, even as total vehicle miles traveled have gone up (and that news was from 2012 – it’s gotten even better since then due to EVs).
However, there’s still more work to be done, as LA and the nearby Inland Empire still have quite dirty air.
And so, California released a new set of clean air rules in 2022, which the EPA is expected to approve this week.
But other states immediately challenged those rules, despite that the rules do not affect them.
The challenge was brought by Ohio and 16 other republican-led states who sought to end the California’s long-supported state’s right to protect its residents from dirty air.
The states argued that the Constitution doesn’t allow the government to treat states unequally (despite that all of the states bringing the lawsuit have more Congressional representation per capita than California does), so letting California set clean air rules is unfair. The states seem to think that Californians should be required to breathe just as much poison as their republican leadership is forcing onto their citizens.
The case has already made its way through the court system, with courts reasonably ruling that the law, which has been effective for 60 years at reducing pollution and health costs for Californians and other CARB states, should stand. In April, the DC court of appeals affirmed California’s right.
But that wasn’t enough for Ohio and the 16 republican states, who brought their desire to poison Californians all the way so the Supreme Court of the United States.
That Court today denied the states’ petition, thus affirming the DC Court’s decision will stand. 8 of the 9 individuals sitting on the Court agreed not to review the case and to let the lower court’s decision stand, though Clarence Thomas stated that he would have taken the case.
In addition, last Friday, while the Court did agree to hear a case involving an oil industry challenge to California’s clean air rules, that case is narrowly limited to the issue of standing, or deciding what entities are allowed to bring cases to court. When it accepted that petition, the Court said it will not consider review of California’s right to set its own emissions standards.
Electrek’s Take
Well, I’ll take this as my opportunity to eat a little bit of crow. Even as late as last week, I thought there was a good chance the Court would torture itself into some sort of extra-legal reasoning to try to stop California’s rules, as it has before on CO2 emissions and Chevron deference.
But on Friday and today, the Court denied review of not one but two separate cases in that respect, so it seems like it either doesn’t want to hear cases about California’s well-established legal authority – or perhaps that it’s just waiting until the time is right to strike. We’ll have to see which one it is – I still don’t trust them given their explicit corruption, but we can take a breath for now.
All of this happens just over a month before convicted felon Donald Trump, who finally received more votes than his opponent on his third attempt (despite committing treason in 2021, for which there is a clear legal remedy), will once again find himself squatting in the White House. Mr. Trump has stated repeatedly that he wants to reverse clean air policies, thus saddling Americans with dirtier air, higher costs and poorer health, and to destroy the US EV market and send US manufacturing jobs to China.
And one of his common targets has been California, the state that has done the most in favor of advancing clean air – which is obviously anathema to a dirty air advocate like himself. He has signaled that he wants to “rip up” California’s waiver, an effort which he tried and failed to do before. So expect a fight to come in the coming years, with California once again on the side of clean air, and Mr. Trump once again on the side of poisoning Americans.
If you’d like your electric vehicle to be even cleaner, charge it at home using rooftop solar panels. Find a reliable and competitively priced solar installer near you on EnergySage, for free. They have pre-vetted installers competing for your business, ensuring high-quality solutions and 20-30% savings. It’s free, with no sales calls until you choose an installer. Compare personalized solar quotes online and receive guidance from unbiased Energy Advisers. Get started here. – ad*
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Electric bikes have exploded in popularity – and so have the risks. In Huntington Beach, California, rising e-bike crashes involving young riders prompted the city’s police department to launch what may be California’s first police-led e-bike safety course for kids, and it might be exactly the kind of inventive community-based program more places need.
E-bikes are transforming urban transportation: they’re fast, affordable, and efficient. In fact, a growing trend is seeing teenagers delay or eschew driver’s licenses altogether, often in favor of using an e-bike.
But e-bikes also introduce new safety challenges, especially for inexperienced riders. Huntington Beach reported 147 e-bike accidents in 2024, more than double its total just two years prior. As Mayor Pat Burns told the LA Times, “I saw several kids blow right through a red light, clueless to how close they came to getting slaughtered by the oncoming cars.”
Emergency room teams are sounding the alarm, too. Amy Frias of Children’s Hospital of Orange County said many of the injuries are as serious as car crash trauma, including fractures, concussions, and shattered kneecaps, especially among unhelmeted kids. The stakes are high, and traditional school safety programs aren’t always prepared to address the unique physics of electric bikes.
Enter Huntington Beach PD’s new e-bike safety course. With the first session held this week at Spring View Middle School and taught by Sgt. Mike Thomas and other certified instructors, the free training pairs real-world skills like emergency braking, obstacle avoidance, and helmet awareness. The course includes hands-on drills in a cone-studded course and focuses on repeating exercises at increasingly faster speeds to help riders understand how those speeds can impact their reaction time and ability to operate the bikes effectively.
Teens navigated the course on their own electric bicycles. Images and videos from the event show an overwhelming number of Super73 e-bikes, a brand often scapegoated in the broader phenomenon of hazardous riding among teens, despite the company promoting the PedalAce e-bike rider education program and frequently partnering with young rider training events like these at local high schools. The company reportedly provided a free Super73 e-bike to be given away at the event this week.
Police Chief Eric Parra emphasized the importance of experiential learning. “You can tell kids how to act and how to behave and how to ride,” Parra explained. “But when you show them physically how 20 miles an hour is so much different than 10, then they start to realize. Then it becomes effective. Experiential learning is the only way to go.”
Parents were required to attend too, ensuring a shared conversation about risks, rules, and real-world riding situations. So far, early feedback suggests a positive impact. Huntington Beach Union High School District officials are reportedly considering making the program mandatory for students who ride e-bikes to school.
More free training sessions are planned, including three additional sessions taking place today.
Electrek’s Take
This is the kind of news I like to cover! We need more of this around the country. E-bike safety shouldn’t be an afterthought, and relying solely on regulation isn’t enough. With youth injuries rising, proactive, practical safety education is essential.
Huntington Beach PD’s rollout seems like an innovative and scalable solution, if the funding is there to repeat it on a larger scale. It’s also a signal that law enforcement, educators, and health professionals can – and should – collaborate on addressing the unfortunately darker side of e-bike popularity, that accidents can and likely will continue to rise. As cities invest in biking infrastructure and micromobility, matching that with hands-on training and helmet culture can be equally life-saving.
I say let’s champion, fund, and scale these programs from California to the rest of the country.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Environment
Podcast: Xiaomi shocks with YU7, Tesla Robotaxi launch, Rivian brings back tank mode, and more
In the Electrek Podcast, we discuss the most popular news in the world of sustainable transport and energy. In this week’s episode, we discuss Xiaomi shocking the industry with YU7, Tesla’s Robotaxi launch, Rivian bringing back tank mode, and more.
The show is live every Friday at 4 p.m. ET on Electrek’s YouTube channel.
Today, the episode is live at 12:15 a.m instead due to Fred’s travels in China and Seth’s in.
As a reminder, we’ll have an accompanying post, like this one, on the site with an embedded link to the live stream. Head to the YouTube channel to get your questions and comments in.
After the show ends at around 5 p.m. ET, the video will be archived on YouTube and the audio on all your favorite podcast apps:
We now have a Patreon if you want to help us avoid more ads and invest more in our content. We have some awesome gifts for our Patreons and more coming.
Here are a few of the articles that we will discuss during the podcast:
Here’s the live stream for today’s episode starting at 12:15 a.m. ET (or the video after 1 a.m. ET):
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Solar provided over 10% of total US electrical generation in April, wind and solar produced almost one-quarter, and the mix of all renewable energy generated nearly a third, according to data just released by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).
Solar set new records in April and the first third of 2025
EIA’s latest monthly “Electric Power Monthly” report (with data through April 30, 2025), which was reviewed by the SUN DAY Campaign, confirms that solar continues to be the fastest-growing source of US electricity.
In April alone, electrical generation by utility-scale solar (>1 MW) increased by 39.3% while “estimated” small-scale (e.g., rooftop) solar PV increased by 11.8%. Combined, they grew by 31.3% and provided 10.7% of US electrical output.
Utility-scale solar thermal and PV expanded by 42.4% while that from small-scale systems rose by 11.4% during the first third of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024. The combination of utility-scale and small-scale solar increased by 32.9% and was almost 7.7% of total US electrical generation for January-April, up from 6.1% a year earlier.
As a result, solar-generated electricity easily surpassed hydropower output, at 6.0%. In fact, solar is now producing more electricity than hydropower, biomass, and geothermal combined.
Wind is still the renewable energy leader
Wind turbines produced 12.6% of US electricity in the first four months of 2025. Their output was 5.9% greater than the year before.
In April alone, wind provided 13.9% of US electricity supply, essentially equal to the share provided by coal.
Wind and solar now outproduce coal and nuclear
During the first third of 2025, electrical generation by wind plus utility-scale and small-scale solar provided 20.3% of the US total, up from 18.5% during the first four months of 2024. In just the month of April, solar plus wind accounted for 24.6% of US electrical output.
During the first four months of this year, the combination of wind and solar provided 20.2% more electricity than did coal, and 13.8% more than US nuclear power plants. In April alone, the disparity increased significantly when solar + wind outproduced coal and nuclear power by 77.1% and 40.2%, respectively.
Renewables are closing in on natural gas
The mix of all renewables (wind and solar plus hydropower, biomass, and geothermal) produced 10.3% more electricity in January-April than they did a year ago (9.7% more in April alone) and provided 27.7% of total US electricity production compared to 26.3% 12 months earlier.
Electrical generation by the combination of all renewables in April alone reached a new record and provided 32.8% of total US electrical generation. Moreover, renewables are now approaching the share provided by natural gas (35.1%), whose electrical output actually dropped by 4.4% during the month.
For perspective, five years ago, in April 2020, the mix of renewables provided 24.4% of total electrical generation while natural gas accounted for 38.8%.
Consequently, the mix of renewables has further strengthened its position as the second largest source of electrical generation, behind only natural gas, with the gap closing rapidly.
Ken Bossong, the SUN DAY Campaign’s executive director, noted:
Solar is now the fastest-growing major source of electricity and is generating more than hydropower, biomass, and geothermal combined, while wind plus solar provides more electricity than either coal or nuclear power, and the mix of all renewables is nearly matching the output of natural gas.
Yet, the Trump administration and the Republican Congress are seeking to pull the rug out from underneath renewables in favor of dirtier and more expensive fossil fuel and nuclear technologies. What are they thinking?
Read more: $15.5B in EV, renewable projects vanish as Senate eyes rollbacks
To limit power outages and make your home more resilient, consider going solar with a battery storage system. In order to find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. They have hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high-quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and you share your phone number with them.
Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisers to help you every step of the way. Get started here. –trusted affiliate link*
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Sports2 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike