DAVID GREENE, HOST:
There's been a little bit of political wrangling recently in this country as well of course. Red states fought hard against the Obama administration. And now governors of left-leaning states are ready to do battle with the Trump White House. And that is all the talk here in California. Odds are an early flashpoint is going to be climate change. Governor Jerry Brown, in his annual State of the State speech, said California will ramp up its ambitious climate policies. Lauren Sommer from member station KQED reports that the Trump administration could really get in his way.
LAUREN SOMMER, BYLINE: Governor Jerry Brown had one key message about climate change - perseverance.
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JERRY BROWN: We can't fall back and give in to the climate deniers. The science is clear. The danger is real.
SOMMER: Just as President Trump was taking the oath of office on Friday, California released its latest plan tackling climate change, which includes renewable energy and putting millions of electric cars on the road. It's a challenge Brown first made in December, when climate scientists from around the world were meeting in San Francisco.
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SOMMER: The mood at their conference had been dismal.
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BROWN: Thank you.
SOMMER: Scientists were worried about losing federal funding for research, even the NASA satellites that collect basic climate data.
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BROWN: And if Trump turns off the satellites, California will launch its own damn satellite. We're going to collect that data.
SOMMER: Brown has also spearheaded his own international climate agreement with more than 160 cities and states.
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BROWN: A lot of people say - what the hell are you doing, Brown? You're not a country.
SOMMER: What California is, Brown says, is the sixth largest economy in the world. So he had a warning for the Trump administration.
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BROWN: So we've got the scientists. We've got the lawyers. And we're ready to fight. We're ready to defend.
SOMMER: Playing defense may be in California's future. The state has tough rules limiting carbon pollution from cars. But it can't have those rules without permission from the federal Environmental Protection Agency. That came up last week at the nomination hearing for Scott Pruitt, who could run the EPA. California Senator Kamala Harris wanted to know - would Pruitt uphold California's special permission, its waiver for tougher car rules?
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SCOTT PRUITT: Senator, as you know, administrators in the past have not granted the waiver and, in fact, have granted a waiver. That's a review process that will be conducted if confirmed.
KAMALA HARRIS: What is your intention, sir?
PRUITT: I don't know without going through the process to determine that, Senator. And one would not want to presume the outcome.
SOMMER: California has been in this kind of fight before. Back in 2007, the Bush administration denied California's request to have tougher pollution rules for cars, saying it would create a patchwork of regulations. California took the federal government to court. But before the case was decided, Obama was elected, and California got its waiver. Now...
MICHAEL WARA: The first legal disputes are going to be about cars. And I'd be surprised, actually, if we didn't see those disputes.
SOMMER: Michael Wara is a professor at Stanford Law School. He says this isn't just about California. Thirteen other states have adopted the same clean car standards. But the bigger question, he says, is a political one.
WARA: How a Pruitt EPA responds to some of these issues with California is going to really test Scott Pruitt's and the administration's commitment to conservative values.
SOMMER: As attorney general of Oklahoma, Pruitt sued the EPA, arguing that his state had the right to set its own environmental rules.
WARA: So that logic would seem to imply that California should have the right to set its own agenda. But we'll see how that trades off against the desire to roll back regulations relating to greenhouse gases.
SOMMER: Something California is watching closely, lawyers at the ready.
For NPR News I'm Lauren Sommer in San Francisco.
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