Um EPA has a little rider on it's bills. Do it this way, or do it a tougher way. California has it's own EPA, and the laws, rules, etc. are completely different here. I have owned a gas station, and have done smogs. Trust me, it ain't the same here.

The pumps here have, in fairly small print, the information that 'fuels may contain ethanol" That covers all the zones. The feds recognize 21 zones for fuel. 18 are represented in California.

If you fill a 5 gallon can of gas in San Diego, and drive to LA, and put that gas in an emissions controlled automobile, you can be fined. Of course they don't enforce that any more than they enforce the drug or illegal alien laws. Still against the law.

Just to change the zones when you buy a car is more hassle than transfering a car from Nevada to Arizona.

Depending where you live in this state, you have different emissions goals the car must meet.

I know a woman in Cardif by the Sea, just above SD. She turned down 1.6 mill for a ratty old shack, that has a view of the ocean. No place to park, yard is on a hill so steep I can't climb it. You park at the bottom on the street, climb two flights of stairs, to a house that was built about 1940. It was not well built. I have had to fix her computer a few times, becase the electric in the house is so bad. No grounds, low voltage from high resistance in the wires, etc.
She turned down 1.6 meg because she 'likes the view'. She's poor, by the way.
barely eats, can't afford a car, etc.
It is something in the water.
Chris