The 17 states that follow California’s emission standards and might now BAN gas cars – as extreme weather sees electric car owners stopped from charging vehicles in the Golden State

Seventeen states with vehicle emission standards tied to rules established in California face weighty decisions on whether to follow that state’s strictest-in-the nation new rules that require all new cars, pickups and SUVs to be electric or hydrogen powered by 2035.

Under the Clean Air Act, states must abide by the federal government’s standard vehicle emissions standards unless they at least partially opt to follow California’s stricter requirements.

States including Washington, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon and Vermont are expected to adopt California´s ban on new gasoline-fueled vehicles.

The other states that follow the emission standards but haven’t committed to the ban are Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico, District of Columbia and Rhode Island.

Colorado and Pennsylvania are among the states that probably won’t.

Despite the groundbreaking decision, just last week, Californians were asked not to charge their electric cars due to the heat wave impacting the state.

Along with heat waves this year and the almost year-long threat of forest fires, in August researchers with University of California Los Angeles found that climate change is doubling the chances of biblical flooding to occur in The Golden State.

And with each degree the Earth is warming, the odds and size of the next mega flood ‘is bigger in almost every respect,’ Daniel Swain, a UCLA climate scientist and co-author of the study, said in a statement.