Room for optimism despite the EPA ruling

Colorado in a good position to hit its 2030 target for EVs. But Heatmap points to an interesting irony.

by Allen Best

The Trump administration on Thursday threw another monkey wrench at Colorado and other states trying to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The EPA repealed the federal greenhouse gas endangerment finding as it relates to new motor vehicles and engines. That rolls back federal standards that reduce greenhouse gas pollution from cars and trucks.

The New York Times saw a far bigger action. “Trump Administration Erases Government’s Power to Fight Climate Change.”

Lee Zeldin, the EPA administrator, said the original endangerment finding was based on flawed science. The finding, the Times explained, simply states that carbon dioxide, methane and four other greenhouse gases threaten human health, both now and in the future. These gases are released by the combustion of fossil fuels, such as when a car engine burns gasoline or a power plant burns coal.

Led by Gov Jared Polis, Colorado officials had nothing nice to say about the new EPA ruling.

“Rolling back long-standing protections creates uncertainty for consumers and businesses at a time when we should be investing in cleaner air, innovation, and energy diversity,” Polis said a statement. “These investments aren’t just the right thing for our climate, it’s good business. Clear, science-based standards give companies the certainty they need to invest and create jobs.”

“The bottom line is this repeal will increase pollution and increase costs for Coloradans,” said Will Toor, executive director of the Colorado Energy Office.

The American First Policy Institute’s Jason Hayes had a different take. “The rule had become a weapon for sweeping and burdensome regulation, such as electric vehicle mandates, that was driven by a radical environmental agenda,” he said in a release.

How much will this impair Colorado’s ability to get 940,000 EVs on its roads by 2030? Colorado has made good progress since setting that goal in 2018. It had 155,000 fully electric vehicles registered and 56,000 hybrids for a total of 211,000 as of December.

Travis Madsen, transportation program manager at Southwest Energy Efficiency Project, thinks Colorado can still hit that goal. It takes away a tool, but other tools remain at both federal and state levels, he said.

Colorado has successfully used tax credits to encourage adoption of EVs. In 2023, the state increased its EV tax credit to $5,000 for vehicles with a manufacturer’s suggested retail price up to $80,000. Another $2,500 was available for vehicles priced at $35,000 or less.

In January, the tax credit stepped down to $750, in part a result of a forecasted slowdown in the state’s economy. The $2,500 bonus for affordable EVs remains in place.

Madsen said he expects legislators to try to adjust the tax credit this year to make it more effective, perhaps by increasing the amount while focusing on the affordable end of the markets.

Other possible tools remain. For example, New Mexico in January adopted a clean transportation fuel standard. It requires companies that distribute carbon-intensive fuels to pay fees that will then subsidize companies distributing fuels with lower-carbon content.

“Policies like these are entirely within state authority to enact. Even if the federal government succeeds in taking away options like federal greenhouse gas emission standards for vehicles, states can continue to innovate and lead,” said Madsen.

Plus, there is the fundamental technology. Electric vehicles have a higher front-end cost but dramatically improved savings. Too, fast-charging infrastructure has rapidly expanded. Driving with an electric vehicle still requires far more advance planning than driving a vehicle that burns gas or diesel. But the challenge has diminished greatly in the last three or four years.

“I am optimistic that as people see more and more of their neighbors having EVs, they will realize that they are just good vehicles that offer real affordability benefits, and people will continue to buy them,” Madsen said.

Earlier this week, in anticipation of the announcement, Heatmap called the original EPA finding a “landmark conclusion that greenhouse gases endanger human life and therefore must be regulated under the Clean Air Act.”

This move by the Trump administration — said Heatmap, citing the Wall Street Journal, “would be one of the “largest regulatory actions in American history.” The news organization gave its story a headline: “Trump is wiping out all climate regulation. Big oil may regret it.”

“While environmental groups will undoubtedly sue, they’ll have their work cut out for them. If even one of the EPA’s many legal arguments hold up in court, those precedents could restrict future presidential administrations from trying to regulate planet-warming emissions. Fossil fuel companies, power plants, and other major emitters could effectively be free to pollute as much as they want — forever.”

Heatmap then went on to point out that the American Petroleum Institute was not thrilled, despite spending years fighting it since the EPA finding was finalized in 2009 in the famous court case Massachusetts v. EPA.

“The reason is simple: oil corporations have realized that repealing the endangerment finding could backfire, leaving them more vulnerable to accountability than ever before, said Heatmap.

“If the administration’s final rule says the Clean Air Act doesn’t give EPA authority to regulate greenhouse gases, then it will be considerably more difficult for Big Oil to contend state efforts are federally preempted,” observed Heatmap.

In other words, this setback for climate action at the federal level involving transportation and much more eventually — including power plants — may actually put Colorado and other states in the driver’s seat, so to speak. Oh, such an irony.

Read the full story here.