House Republicans move to stop California from setting its own vehicle pollution standards

A large rig slows arsenic postulation backs up connected southbound Interstate 5 heading into downtown San Diego during the day unreserved hr connected April 8, 2025 successful San Diego, California. | Photo: Getty Images

The US House of Representatives voted to revoke California’s quality to enact its own, tougher contamination regulations for cars and heavy-duty trucks. 

It’s an effort to termination 1 of the nation’s astir ambitious clime plans and portion California of its quality to acceptable stricter tailpipe contamination standards than the federation arsenic a whole. But it’s not wide that Republicans are adjacent connected dependable ineligible footing successful trying to halt the authorities from enacting its ain rules.

“This ballot is an unprecedented and reckless onslaught connected states’ ineligible authorization to code the tailpipe contamination causing asthma, lung illness and bosom conditions,” Kathy Harris, manager of cleanable vehicles astatine the Natural Resources Defense Council, said successful a press release. “If different states don’t similar California’s approach, they don’t request to travel it. But Congress shouldn’t intervene and effort to artifact authorities leaders from protecting their residents from unsafe pollution.”

Back successful December, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a waiver approving California’s program to necessitate each caller rider vehicles sold successful the authorities to beryllium zero-emission by 2035. Resolutions passed by the House Wednesday and Thursday purpose to reverse that approval, arsenic good arsenic similar waivers the EPA granted California for regulations limiting nitrogen oxide contamination and requiring an expanding fig of mean and heavy-duty vehicles to beryllium zero emission.  

Resolutions the House passed this week inactive person to marque it done the Senate, teeing up a combat implicit whether Congress adjacent has the authorization instrumentality distant the approvals. The Senate parliamentarian and Government Accountability Office (GAO) person antecedently said that Congress can’t usage the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to revoke waivers the EPA issues to California. The CRA allows Congress to overturn definite caller rules with a elemental bulk vote; what’s successful question is whether it applies to waivers that the GAO and parliamentarian don’t see caller rules wrong the parameters of the CRA.

The 1970 Clean Air Act allowed California to acceptable its ain tailpipe emanation standards due to the fact that of higher contamination levels successful the state. And due to the fact that the Golden State has a larger economy than astir different countries successful the world, the standards it has acceptable for conveyance manufacturers implicit the years person swayed the full manufacture and influenced different governments. At slightest 11 different states including New York and Oregon person adopted akin clime laws incentivizing electrical conveyance sales. 

Carmakers criticized the Biden administration’s December support of that program — 1 of the astir ambitious clime targets successful the federation — penning that they expected Donald Trump to revoke the waiver. During his archetypal word successful office, President Trump likewise tried to instrumentality distant California’s authority to acceptable its ain emissions standards for cars, but was unsuccessful.

“Most of the states that travel California are NOT acceptable for these requirements. Achieving the income mandates nether existent marketplace realities volition instrumentality a miracle,” John Bozzella, president and CEO of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation that includes Ford, GM, Honda and others, wrote successful a December property release.