Trump FINALLY FACES Resistance for his DESTRUCTION

In the 1950s and 60s, Los Angeles suffered from debilitating smog, with lead concentrations in the air 50 times higher than today and daily carbon monoxide standard violations. This pollution caused severe health problems, including diminished IQ in children due to lead exposure.

Lead concentrations in the air in Los Angeles and other urban areas were 50 times higher than they are today. The lead levels of kids were 1,000% higher than what kids in Flint, Michigan experienced during the drinking water crisis. Carbon monoxide standards were violated every single day of the year. Lead diminishes people's IQ, affecting brain functioning, particularly of young people.

The movement to clean LA's air was ignited by citizen groups like Stampout Smog (formed by women, many married to Hollywood moguls, who used savvy tactics like bringing kids in gas masks to meetings) and Mothers of East LA (Latina women protesting environmental injustice). The Los Angeles Times was instrumental, hiring a 'smog editor' and funding scientific research, channeling public opinion and pressure.

Started especially by a group of women who started an organization called Stampout Smog. Many of them were married to Hollywood moguls so they could get the attention of media. They used to do things like bring their kids to political meetings wearing gas masks. The Los Angeles Times hires a smog editor who spends his entire job focused on the smog of Los Angeles. Wana Gutierrez was a woman who started an organization with five other Latino women in East Los Angeles called Mothers of East LA to draw attention to environmental injustice.

Initially, the cause of LA's smog was misunderstood, with early studies blaming power plants and coal burning. Caltech scientist Ari Hoggin, using a 'smog chamber,' conclusively demonstrated in the 1950s that car emissions, when mixed with sunlight, were the primary cause of ozone pollution.

We don't actually understand that what's happening is that car emissions are actually mixing with sunlight and causing ozone pollution. We don't figure that out until the 1950s when a Caltech scientist named Ari Hoggin creates a smog chamber and he blows auto emissions into that chamber. They mix with sun and lo and behold, he has created the smog.

Car companies initially denied their product's role in smog and engaged in a cross-licensing agreement to prevent any single company from profiting from emission control technology, effectively delaying its development. California, as a major car market, appointed Hoggin to a regulatory board and eventually passed 'technology-forcing' laws, mandating emission controls and accelerating the development of devices like the catalytic converter.

The car companies deny that their product has anything to do with that. They basically ignore Hogen Smith science. Once it's confirmed, they then engage in this campaign of delay and ultimately what I call deception. There is actually an antitrust case, a conspiracy case brought about against the auto industry for keeping emissions control equipment off the market. California's authority was too limited too. It also was not technology following. But eventually some other companies, not the big three, came to the state and said, 'We have the technology.' And lo and behold, it turned out the car companies had the technology too.

When the federal Clean Air Act was passed, it included a unique 'exemption from preemption' for California, allowing the state to set its own, stricter auto emission standards. This authority has enabled California to lead on environmental policy, including greenhouse gas regulations and zero-emission vehicle mandates, but it is under 'major attack' by the Trump administration, which has attempted to revoke waivers and is suing the state.

Congress gives California a special exemption from preemption and only California can issue its own standards as long as they're stronger than the federal standards. That idea is still in the law, but it is under major attack. The Trump administration did was to get Congress to step in and take away from California three separate waivers that regulate pollution from cars and trucks. The Trump administration is also suing California right now for standards that are already in place.