Thread by @MaryNicholsCA

As a battle looms ahead, let’s take a look back at where we’ve been & why #CleanCarStandards are so important.

Once upon a time, CA’s fight for #cleanercars emerged from a thick layer of yellowish gray #smog with a metallic taste & eye-stinging character...

When Governor Ronald Reagan signed the law creating CARB in 1968, California had been fighting the #smog monster for over 20 years with regulations to clean up tailpipe pollution

Governor Reagan fought hard to protect CA’s authority to set its own #cleanercarstandards under the newly passed #CleanAirAct, signed by President Nixon a few years after LA’s #smog made the cover of Time Magazine

Acting under this authority, CA led the nation in setting tough regulations for #cleanercars that drove innovative vehicle technology & drastically cut #smog over the next 5 decades

California received a waiver from @EPA for each nation-leading advance

In every instance, @EPA later adopted the regulations & #cleanercarstandards after they saw how effective and cost-effective they were

These #cleanercar advances include the three-way catalytic converter, leading to the greatest reduction in #smog-forming pollution in the history of the internal combustion engine

Today, our state is leading way on the next generation of #cleanercars — hybrid & ZEVS — providing consumers with dozens of choices for models of the cleanest cars on the planet

And 13 states representing nearly 40% of the car market follow California’s #cleanercarstandards

But we've still got work to do. California continues to have major #airquality problems with 12 million people live in areas with the worst levels of smog in the nation

That’s why California will not back down. We will fight to keep ours & other #statesrights to continue to set #cleanercarstandards to clean the air, protect public health & drive innovative, world-leading technology.

The end 💪