Virginia Expected to Adopt Clean Car Standards

by Kelsey Tamborrino (Politico's Morning Energy) The Virginia legislature is poised to adopt California's vehicle emissions standards after the measure cleared the state Senate on Friday, reports the Virginia Mercury. The clean car standards in House Bill 1965 — which won the endorsement of the Virginia Automobile Dealers Association and environmentalists — would adopt both California's low-emissions vehicle standards governing gasoline-powered cars as well as its zero-emissions standard setting requirements for electric vehicle sales. The Senate added on a carbon credit trading program that will require re-approval from the House, but the Mercury reports the lower chamber is expected to pass the bill for Gov. Ralph Northam's signature.

— This will make Virginia the 14th state (plus D.C.) to join California's standards and the second to do so following the Trump administration's effort to strip the state of its special Clean Air Act authority. Three other states are also working to adopt California's rules: Minnesota, New Mexico and Nevada. READ MORE

Excerpt from Virginia Mercury: “Electric cars are coming, but why would we hold California out as the divine standard when they’re experiencing a mass exodus of their citizens and their businesses?” asked Sen. Richard Stuart, R-Stafford, who cast the bill as a “draconian” policy. “Let Virginia lead in its own way. Let’s not follow California. They are not an example for the rest of the country and certainly not Virginia right now.”

Democrats countered that when it comes to transportation emissions, there is no Virginia way. The federal Clean Air Act gives states two choices in setting such emissions standards: adopt those set by the federal government or adopt those set by California under a special waiver in the law. To date, 14 other states and Washington, D.C. have opted for the latter course, embracing either the LEV standard alone or both the LEV and ZEV standards.

“We can’t cede state control by adopting clean car standards, because we don’t have any state-level oversight to cede at the moment,” said Sen. Jennifer McClellan, D-Richmond. “Rather, with this bill we would claim our right under the Clean Air Act to adopt stronger state-based emissions standards as 14 other states have already done and three more are in the process of doing.”

McClellan and others argued that by joining the group of states that have adopted the California standards, Virginia will be able to have a “seat at the table” in crafting future updates, and that the long federal review process will offer the legislature sufficient time to withdraw from its commitment if it doesn’t approve of future targets.

Excerpt from Green Car Reports: However, Virginia hasn't adopted a California-style zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate, which would require high-volume automakers to sell those vehicles.

The legislation should encourage sales of electric cars, however. Automakers tend to concentrate inventories in states that follow California's emissions standards, whether they have adopted a ZEV mandate or not. And if the federal government hasn't yet adopted EV policies of its own, it would pave the way for Virginia to sign onto the EV mandate.

Virginia joins New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Washington, Oregon, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, and Colorado in adopting California's standards. Nevada is also considering them as of June 2020. Most of these same states allied against the proposed freeze—and eventual weakening—of fuel economy standards laid out by the Trump administration. READ MORE