EPA's New Chief Met California Regulator on Car Mileage Plan
(Bloomberg) -- California's top air-quality official met with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's new acting chief on Tuesday, the first meeting between two regulators who disagree over the Trump administration's plan to weaken automobile efficiency regulations.
Mary Nichols, chairman of the California Air Resources Board, said that acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler had reached out to state officials shortly after his appointment. Wheeler was elevated to the EPA's top post earlier this month following the scandal-fueled ouster of former agency Administrator Scott Pruitt.
"It was a cordial meeting. Nothing of substance was discussed," Stanley Young, a California Air Resources Board spokesman, said in an email after the two officials met in Washington.
The White House is reviewing proposals by the EPA and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to roll back stringent fuel economy and emissions standards for automobiles that were enacted during the Obama administration. The proposals are also said to contain attacks on California's authority to set vehicle efficiency rules that are tougher than the federal government's, people familiar with the matter have said.
“I am not at the moment expecting any changes in direction or changes in policy,” from Wheeler's appointment, Nichols said Tuesday at an event organized by Politico before her meeting with Wheeler. “But I hear from others who know him he is a practical person who likes to move forward and is willing to make compromises, so I am hopeful that we'll find some things to work on together.”
In May, Trump directed his agencies to reach out to California officials including Nichols in a bid to come to an agreement on changes to the rules, which the state has vowed to defend in court if necessary. Those talks haven't happened, Nichols said earlier this month.
To contact the reporters on this story: Ryan Beene in Washington at rbeene@bloomberg.net;Stephen Cunningham in Washington at scunningha10@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jon Morgan at jmorgan97@bloomberg.net, John Harney
©2018 Bloomberg L.P.
-
Talking Points This Week: Leadership Shock At Nvidia, Earnings Strength, And The Fog Over Hormuz
The Anthropic IPO pricing and first trading day, Nvidia's upcoming earnings, and any fresh signals from Iran will set the tone for the following week.
-
Signature Play: The Classic Cocktail Is Dead. Or Is It?
Classic cocktails are disappearing from India's cocktail menus. But they're still being ordered, taught to bartenders and borrowed from. So, who's really having the last drink?
-
A New Samvat Wishlist: Inclusive Prosperity And Human Development
India has strengthened its economic foundations through infrastructure, digital access and enterprise. Its next growth chapter must deepen productivity, create better livelihoods and widen participation in prosperity.
-
Love, Sex Aur Dhokha: The Audacious Plot To Spy On Jensen Huang
A Taipei dinner, a Singapore chip buyer and a suspected Chinese asset: inside the alleged spy operation that got close to NVIDIA's Jensen Huang.
-
Ten Things I Learnt This Samvat
Patience can be a trap. Cheap stocks can stay cheap. Leverage can wipe you out. What did Samvat 2082 teach us? Niraj Shah writes on 10 lessons from the year gone by.
-
Talking Points This Week: Tech Nerves, FII Buying, And A Faraway Banking Shock
The global markets are not shining this Diwali. The exception in the large markets is, India.
-
Midterm Rally Lasted A Day. The Hard Reality Of A Divided US May Last Two Years | Opinion
Between a contested AI boom, a debt ceiling that arrives in 2027 and a president with every incentive to act alone, the next two years may prove more volatile than the first day's rally suggests.
-
Blue Wave Will Derail the AI Trade but Won't Dismantle the AI Era | Unhedged Position
The Democrats' sweep of the US Congress will see politics collide with economic forces both over the long and short term.
-
It's Time To Take The GST Council's Bet On Trust Global
Payment records can prove India's services exports, and clear, proportionate rules can bring foreign digital sellers into the tax net.
-
Opinion | India at 38: From Innovation Overperformer to Innovation Powerhouse
India now has 453 VC-backed deep science startups, 18 of them late-stage, after 117 percent growth since 2020. Laurus Labs, at USD 9.3 billion, is the most valuable deep science company in any middle-income economy outside China.
