As someone that owned a family auto shop, I welcome this change. The EPA set standards at a federal level (good standards I might add). Cali was given the powe

As someone that owned a family auto shop, I welcome this change. The EPA set standards at a federal level (good standards I might add). Cali was given the power to require higher standards in the 1970's as the article mentions. In the 1970's and 1980's, a car made for the states vs. one headed for California might be quite a bit different, including a different motor with a different compression ratio and various "accessories" to reduce tail pipe emissions. Since the 1990's, there is not much difference between a car made for the states and one for California, usually if there is a difference it is in secondary air injection into the exhaust. Nowadays if a car is destined for California, the manufacture adds a small airpump which is activated only for a short period after engine start up to pump air into the exhaust. This adds oxygen to the exhaust and allows unburned hydrocarbons to burn just a bit more before exiting. This is only needed when engine temps are low however. So over all, not a big change. There are also rules to prevent tampering with the engine ECU. If one wants more performance, they can get a third party to flash the stock ECU firmware with a "hotter" one for more performance which usually requires more gas and higher ignition timing for the price of more pollution. Though one might also want their ECU tuned for nothing more than to change transmission shift points and firmness (so not for more pollution). But ECU flashing is expensive ($400+) and a few hot rodders aren't going to melt the icecaps. This is the way things were up until ~2010 or so before I left the market, perhaps things are different right now, but I doubt it (any remarks are welcomed)