States Rights and Environmental Regulation

Scott Pruitt, head of the EPA, has announced that the Trump Administration will challenge California's right to set it's own standards for CO2 emissions in a NYT article posted this morning. State attorney generals across the country, including Eric Schneiderman of NY, are lining up behind California, ready to fight to defend California's right to set its own regulations under the Clean Water Act. Democrats are advocating that California's regulations have worked as an incubator to test whether higher regulations work to off-set air pollution (they do) and whether they hurt sales (they don't). This exchange highlights the ever shifting role of states rights in party platform, specifically when a minority party is being threatened by an opposing unified government.