The U.S. Department of Justice has reportedly dropped an inquiry that had launched last September, soon after BMW, Ford, Honda, and Volkswagen announced their decision to side with California's emissions rules.

When the federal Clean Air Act went into effect in 1970, California was allowed to set its own emissions standards, and they have historically been tougher than national standards.

The Trump Administration wants to roll back Obama-era standards that would require an automaker’s nationwide fleet to have an average EPA of 40 to 51 mpg.

Last September, the Justice Department began an antitrust inquiry into BMW, Ford, Honda, and Volkswagen because they sided with California's emissions standards after the Trump administration decided to roll back national fuel-economy standards.

The New York Times and other papers are reporting this afternoon that the Justice Department has dropped its inquiry into the automakers, deciding that they have violated no laws.

The dustup began after Trump rolled back emissions and efficiency standards and declared that California should not be able to set its own standards. The states has had a waiver in place since the implementation of the Clean Air Act in 1970 that allows it to set its own emissions rules. No other state has that power, but they can voluntarily follow California’s lead.



I-580 in Oakland, California, July 2019. Justin Sullivan Getty Images

The Obama-era standards require an automaker’s nationwide fleet to have an average of 51 mpg by model year 2026. The Trump plan reduces that number to 40 mpg within the same time frame.

In July 2019, the four automakers announced that they would continue to follow California's stricter standards. When the news broke, an EPA spokesperson called the deal "a PR stunt that does nothing to further the one national standard that will provide certainty and relief for American consumers."

The inquiry was set in motion a few months later. But the Times reported, "On Friday, Justice Department lawyers told automakers that they had concluded that they had not broken any rules or laws in their dealings with California, according to people familiar with the matter."

California and the Trump administration will surely continue to battle it out in court and via press releases, but for now, at least, these automakers will not be dragged into court for siding with stricter emissions.

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