Of the many ways Donald Trump’s return to the White House has promised to upend federal policy, few are more predictable or damaging. Turn he and his allies threatened to take about climate change and environmental protection. Fortunately, California has a strong defense against these attacks.
Trump’s first administration backfired more than 100 clean air and water regulations, toxic chemicals and wildlife conservation. He called global warming a a deceiverit pulled out of the Paris climate accord, reduced national monuments and appointed Environmental Protection Agency administrators who helped polluters at the expense of public health.
Many experts believe that Trump’s last election “nail in the coffin” for efforts to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. He did, after all, urged oil executives documenting his latest campaign to roll back environmental laws.
Given the Republican majority in the House and Senate and the Supreme Court’s strong hostility toward environmental regulation, Trump’s anti-environmental excesses will have to be checked at the state and local levels.
To achieve that, as part of his leadership plan the second high-profile campaign against Trump’s policiesGov. Gavin Newsom has called a special session of the Legislature California legal defense readiness. Newsom, state Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta and other like-minded California and state leaders can build significant defenses against the onslaught of environmental protections, as they did eight years ago. Former state Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra he filed more than 100 lawsuits against the first Trump administration, more on environmental issues, and he won more than he lost.
But California officials can’t just play defense. They must use government power and influence to file a pro-environmental case, fighting the worst possible damage.
With Trump’s team expected to kill President Biden’s car tax bill, among other reforms, California can strengthen its reputation by consistently committing to its climate policies. The government’s reversal of those policies will make the United States less competitive by leaving leadership in clean energy technology to China, Europe and other competitors. The strength and stability of the world’s fifth largest economy, make it an attractive new target and investment partner while the federal government sees chaos. That worked for California in 2019, when Ford, Honda and other automakers pushed back against the Trump administration’s efforts to weaken air pollution standards and development. made a deal with Californiaexpressing the need for “legal certainty.”
“It’s not that they hated Trump,” said Mary Nichols, who chaired the California Air Resources Board at the time. “They wanted to be free, but they wanted to have a conversation with people that was driven by science and data, not ideas.”
Also strengthening California’s position is the climate and energy that have changed the most in eight years, putting Trump’s agenda at odds with economic reality.
Electric vehicles are on the rise around the world. One in five new cars sold now runs on batterieswith 1.7 million electric vehicles expected to be sold in the US this year, more than eight times than at the beginning of Trump’s first term. More than 40% of the nation’s electricity now comes from carbon-free sources, twice as much as in 2016.
The Depreciation and Inflation Act, the landmark climate legislation that Biden signed, introduced advances in the development of electric vehicles and batteries and other clean energy technologies that disproportionately benefited red states and counties. While Trump promised to “repeal all unused funds” under the law, 18 House Republicans have urged Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) not to eliminate its clean energy tax credits, noting that they have “spurred innovation, spurred investment, and created good jobs in many parts of the country — including many states represented” by Republicans.
Trump may face pressure not to renege on commitments to cut greenhouse gas pollution in other unexpected areas. Head of Exxon Mobil he warned him against withdrawing from the Paris Agreement on the grounds that the world needs a pollution control system.
And then there are the various hurdles it imposes, including Trump’s choice to lead the EPA: former Attorney Lee Zeldin of New Yorkhis main virtue seems to be honesty. Zeldin’s lack of environmental experience could hamper efforts to dismantle the regulations, which take a lot of expertise, legal rigor and time.
This is Trump’s plan to remove government positions of civil servants and replacing them with loyalists could further undermine his ability to roll back the rules, said Ann Carlson, a UCLA environmental law professor and former acting director of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. “The truth is that you cannot do anything without honest government employees,” he said.
Still, Trump could do real damage by going after states that are trying to deal with climate change. Expect new efforts to repeal California’s waiver to set stricter emissions standards, several of them they don’t have to be approved by Biden’s EPA. The federal government’s ability to respond to climate-related disasters is also at risk: Trump is at it again threatened to withhold government aid to fight the California wildfires, and his second term’s Project 2025 playbook calls for disbanding the National Weather Service.
For its safety, California will need new policies that can be self-sustaining. That means tougher action from state regulators like the state Public Utilities Commission and Air Resources Board and local authorities like the South Coast Air Quality Management District, which has dragged its feet for years in developing stricter regulations for some of Southern California’s biggest polluters, the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
Local leaders like Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass will need to do more. So far, he has failed to use his control over the Port of LA to take meaningful steps to clean up diesel pollution.
We are facing the threat of years of climate loss at a time when we cannot afford it. It’s time for state and local leaders to step up and show that despite Trump’s second term in office, pro-environment policy is still possible if they fight for it.
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