UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF ...

Case 1:08-cv-07837-PAC Document 51 Filed 10/31/2008 Page 17 of 26
standards or average fuel economy standards” as contemplated under the EPCA’s preemption
provision.
The Supreme Court’s decision in Engine Manufacturers Association v. South Coast Air
Quality Management District, 541 U.S. 246 (2004), also forecloses any argument that the EPCA
applies only to fuel economy standards as they relate to manufacturers or sellers. In that case,
which involved preemption under the CAA, not the EPCA, the Supreme Court clarified that
CAA preemption applies equally to local emission laws addressed to purchasers of vehicles, as
opposed to only manufacturers, sellers, or dealers. South Coast Air Quality Management District
(“South Coast”) was a political subdivision of California responsible for air pollution control in
the Los Angeles metropolitan area. South Coast adopted rules prohibiting various public and
private fleet operators from purchasing or leasing vehicles not in compliance with stringent
emission requirements. Id. at 248-49 (rules governed operators of fleets of street sweepers,
passenger cars, public transit vehicles, including shuttles and taxicabs picking up airline
passengers, as well as other fleet operators). The Court, in an 8-1 decision, held that a state law
that restricted emissions in new vehicles was preempted whether it targeted purchasers or
manufacturers. Id. at 253-55 (finding that the district court’s interpretation of the word
“standard” in the CAA’s preemption language was flawed). Additionally, the Court held that it
made “no sense” to treat sales restrictions and purchase restrictions differently for preemption
reasons. Id. at 255 (“The manufacturer’s right to sell federally approved vehicles is meaningless
in the absence of a purchaser’s right to buy them.”). For the same reasons stated in Engine
Manufacturers, EPCA preemption applies equally to state and local fuel economy laws
addressing the purchase of vehicles.
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