ASPEN, Colo. (AP) — Olympic gold medalist Ayumu Hirano headlines the roster of snowboarders who will compete in The Snow League, Shaun White's new set of halfpipe contests that brings together top athletes to compete for $1.5 million in prize money.
Hirano won gold at the Beijing Games by completing a run that featured a risky triple cork jump that hadn't been landed previously as part of a complete halfpipe run. White finished fourth in that contest — the last of a career that spanned five Olympics and included three gold medals of his own.
The 38-year-old envisions The Snow League as a way to unite action sports, which traditionally have run through scattered schedules that create difficulty in bringing together the best in the sport.
Others in the field include Americans Maddie Mastro and Lucas Foster, 2022 Olympic medalists Queralt Castellet and Sena Tomita, and Gaon Choi, who last year became the youngest Winter X Games halfpipe gold medalist at age 14.
Back-to-back Olympic champion Chloe Kim, who has supported White's league, is not on the list of competitors.
White's group has secured a deal with NBC and Peacock to televise and stream the league, which kicks off March 7-8 in Aspen.
Plans are to include freeskiing on the halfpipe for events beyond the debut, which have not yet been announced.
AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports
FILE - Japan's Ayumu Hirano competes during the men's halfpipe finals at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Friday, Feb. 11, 2022, in Zhangjiakou, China. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday granted two requests from California to enforce strict standards for vehicle emissions, including a rule aimed at banning sales of new gasoline-powered cars in the state by 2035. The incoming Trump administration is likely to try to reverse the action.
The California rule is stricter than a federal rule adopted this year that tightens emissions standards but does not require sales of electric vehicles.
EPA said its review found that opponents of the two waivers did not meet their legal burden to show how either the EV rule or a separate measure on heavy-duty vehicles was inconsistent with the federal Clean Air Act.
“California has longstanding authority to request waivers from EPA to protect its residents from dangerous air pollution coming from mobile sources like cars and trucks,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in a statement. “Today’s actions follow through on EPA’s commitment to partner with states to reduce emissions and act on the threat of climate change.”
The new waiver is important not only to California but to more than a dozen other states that follow its nation-leading standards on vehicle emissions.
Even so, the waiver is likely to be short-lived. President-elect Donald Trump has said he will move to revoke all California waivers as part of an industry-friendly approach that includes boosting production of fossil fuels and repealing key parts of a landmark 2022 climate law.
Trump rescinded California's authority on emissions in 2019, only to be reversed three years later by the Biden EPA, which restored the state’s authority in 2022.
Any effort by the new administration is likely to spawn a new set of legal challenges that could delay any action.
Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who often touts California's leadership on climate policy, said EPA's approval of the advanced clean-cars rule was a vote of confidence in California's accomplishments in “protecting our people by cleaning our air and cutting pollution.”
“Naysayers like President-elect Trump would prefer to side with the oil industry over consumers and American automakers, but California will continue fostering new innovations in the market," Newsom said.
Ford, Honda, Volkswagen and other major automakers are meeting current California emission standards, but some major car companies questioned the latest EPA waiver.
Most of the Democratic-leaning states that have adopted California’s rules — clustered along the West Coast and in the Northeast — are not selling anywhere near the 35% level of EV sales required next year and are unlikely to meet the 2035 target of 100% EV sales, according to the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a large industry group.
“Achieving the sales mandates under current market realities will take a miracle. There needs to be balance and some states should exit the (California) program,'' said John Bozzella, the group's CEO.
Automakers are producing electric vehicles, Bozzella said, “but there’s a huge gap between these EV sales mandates and a customer’s reasonable expectation they can still choose what kind of vehicle to drive." He expects Trump to revoke the California waiver next year.
Scott Vazin, a spokesman for Toyota in North America, said approval of the California waiver “will distort the auto industry as companies funnel zero-emission vehicles to the states that have adopted California’s rules." If a customer in a state that follows California can't afford an EV “or it doesn’t meet their needs, there may not be a non-electric vehicle on the lot to purchase for their mobility needs,'' Vazin said.
Environmental groups hailed the Biden administration's action.
“EPA’s approval is a critical step forward in protecting our lungs from pollution and our wallets from the expenses of combustion fuels,” said Paul Cort, director of Earthjustice’s Right To Zero campaign. “The gradual shift in car sales to zero-emissions models will cut smog and household costs while growing California’s clean energy workforce."
Kathy Harris, director of clean vehicles at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said the decision shows respect for California and other states.
“California decided that transitioning to cleaner, zero-emission vehicles is the best way to address the unique (air pollution) burdens it faces,” she said. “This is exactly how our system of federalism should work. If other states don’t like California’s approach, they don’t need to follow it. But no one should object to the longstanding authority of states to act to protect their residents.”
The EPA's action comes as the Supreme Court said last week that it will take up a business-backed appeal challenging an earlier California waiver issued by the Biden administration. The justices agreed to hear an appeal filed by fuel producers who object to an EPA waiver granted in 2022.
The high court will not be reviewing the waiver itself but a related issue: whether fuel producers have legal standing to challenge it. A federal appeals court ruled that the companies lacked the right to sue because they produced no evidence that they would be affected by the waiver, which directly affects vehicle manufacturers.
Associated Press writer Sophie Austin in Sacramento, California, contributed to this story.
A person crosses a street as smog fills the air Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Andy Bao)
