‘Extreme’ state policies justify feds’ laying down some rules
Steven Greenhut, western region director for the R Street Institute, acknowledges the Trump administration isn’t always on point when it comes to states’ rights – but in this case, he says, it is clearly a federal matter.
“I think it’s a good idea to let the federal government determine those standards because the car manufacturers otherwise have to build cars for different marketplaces within the United States – and the California Air Resources Board is so aggressive and so over the top in their restrictions,” he adds. “I don’t like the fuel standards to begin with. Let the marketplace determine the cars that people want to drive.”
Meanwhile, a civil war is brewing over the sale of federal lands in California, where Fox News reports a new law equips state lawmakers with the power to override any sale, the concern being the Trump administration would allow things such as logging, oil drilling, and development.
“They’re federally owned lands,” says Greenhut. “The feds ought to be able to dispose of them as they want to do and not let California stop that process.”
According to Greenhut, California “gums up the sale of any kind of lands,” which the California resident says is one reason why housing prices are so high in his state.
“We’re not allowed to build anywhere and it’s one of the reasons we don’t have a lot of manufacturing jobs, because you’re not allowed to do anything on the land anymore,” he explains.
California’s environmental approach “is extreme,” argues Greenhut – and that, he says, justifies the arguments that the Trump administration ought to be able to sell federal land to developers that are going to use the land for productive purposes; and that the feds ought to be able to determine air quality standards for car manufacturers.
