CALIFORNIA/EPA/SCOTT PRUITT/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Officials from the Trump administration and the State of California, who have been negotiating behind the scenes on car emissions standards, are expected to reopen talks that could preserve rules targeted by the Environmental Protection Agency for elimination, according to people briefed on the talks. Scott Pruitt, the E.P.A. administrator, announced this week that his agency would start the process of rolling back the federal standards, which are aimed at cutting tailpipe emissions of carbon dioxide, a major contributor to global warming. He also demanded that California, which has vowed to stick to its own stricter standards, fall in line and follow Washington’s lead. That announcement raised the specter of a messy legal battle between the Trump administration and California, which has the legal authority to write its own air pollution rules and has threatened to sue to protect that authority.”
–Hiroko Tabuchi, “Quietly, Trump Officials and California Seek a Deal on Car Emissions,” The New York Times online, April 5, 2018