The US has been trending downward in emissions for some time now without the federal government having to mandate anything. Texas of all places is one of the fastest growing locations in the country for wind energy.
This is a separate issue from federal action. We take all sorts of actions with vast political and economic action that don't save money, to reduce pollution.
But by leading the way, we will encourage other countries to not build coal plants, which was the "legitimate" question that was asked.
Higher standards in California mean companies default to that standard nation wide because it's easier to have a single product and avoid supply chain issues.
Same reason most all orange juice is Kosher. A small but large enough hard preference controls the market because the rest dont care enough.
Hopefully red states won't put an mpg cap out of spite
Also California has it's own specific blend of gasoline and that hasn't been adopted nationwide at all. It's only used in California.
Texas produces around five times as much wind energy as California, and for half the price of California's wind energy.
Unless you can identify a certain thing in California that caused Texas to increase it's wind power I think your argument is pretty vacuous.