California air quality regulators are pushing back against a recent ad campaign launched by new-car dealers, which maintain that stringent zero-emissions targets could ravage the Golden State's economy.

The Calibrate campaign, an initiative of the California New Car Dealers Association, is raising opposition to California's Advanced Clean Cars II rule, which would bring an end to new gas-powered car sales by 2035.

"The Calibrate media campaign is the auto industry’s latest attempt to undermine California’s public health goals by creating an artificial crisis and misleading consumers," the California Air Resources Board (CARB) stated in a five-page rebuttal fact sheet.

The trailblazing Advanced Clean Cars II rule received a controversial go-ahead from the Biden administration in December — a step required in order for California to implement stricter-than-federal emissions standards.

California can set such standards due to a clause in........

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