Sacramento, California - Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today issued the following statement on the Trump Administration’s proposal to weaken the nation’s clean vehicle emissions standard:

“For Trump to now destroy a law first enacted at the request of Ronald Reagan five decades ago is a betrayal and an assault on the health of Americans everywhere. Under his reckless scheme, motorists will pay more at the pump, get worse gas mileage and breathe dirtier air. California will fight this stupidity in every conceivable way possible.”

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s own analysis shows the national clean car standard benefits all consumers by reducing fuel costs and the environment by reducing greenhouse gas pollution.

In May, Governor Brown announced that California is leading an 18-jurisdiction coalition – representing approximately 43 percent of the U.S. automobile market and 140 million people – to sue the U.S. EPA to preserve the nation’s single vehicle emission standard. Last year, Governor Brown wrote a letter to the U.S. EPA Administrator to defend the existing emission standard.

California – which is playing a world-leading role in setting aggressive climate goals and building strong coalitions of partners committed to curbing carbon pollution in both the United States and around the globe – will convene the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco this September, where representatives from subnational governments, businesses and civil society will showcase the surge of climate action around the world, and make the case that even more must be done.