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Title: Senate votes to kill California's gas-powered vehicle restrictions

Date: Thu, 22 May 2025 19:13:41 +0000
Link: https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/s...

The United States Senate voted 51-44 mostly across party lines on Wednesday
to repeal a waiver granted by the Biden administration's Environmental
Protection Agency, allowing the state of California to enact its Advanced
Clean Cars II Regulations. ACC II requires that 80 percent of new passenger
vehicles sold in California by 2035 be zero-emission.

Notably, the legitimacy of the vote itself was dubious, as the Senate
parliamentarian ΓÇö a nonpartisan staffer who helps the Senate understand its
own rules ΓÇö had warned that the waiver did not fall under the Senate's
purview. The parliamentarian noted that the EPA waiver wasnΓÇÖt a formal rule
but an administrative order. This means the waiver is not subject to the
Congressional Review Act (CRA), the law Senate Republicans used to justify
the vote. The CRA only became law in 1996, and had seen little use until
recently ΓÇö it has been used to overturn federal rules a total of 20 times,
16 of which occurred during the previous Trump administration.

The measure will now go to President Trump's desk for signature, as the House
already passed legislation to repeal the waiver earlier this month.

The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a DC lobbying group that represents a
number of automakers including GM, Toyota, Volkswagen and Hyundai, celebrated
the vote. "These EV sales mandates were never achievable," said John
Bozzella, president and CEO of the lobbying group. He argued, "Meeting the
mandates would require diverting finite capital from the EV transition to
purchase compliance credits from Tesla."

While these automakers rejoiced, environmental protection advocates struck a
concerned tone. "ItΓÇÖs deeply disappointing that the Senate used the
Congressional Review Act to block states from implementing air pollution
standards to improve air quality. This illegitimate move poses threats to
public health, the economy and statesΓÇÖ rights." said Steven Higashide,
director of the Clean Transportation Program at the Union of Concerned
Scientists.

As reported in the L.A. Times, Will Barrett, senior director at the American
Lung Association and a clean air advocate said, ΓÇ£This is a major blow to
the decades-long public health protections delivered under the Clean Air
Act.ΓÇ¥ Highlighting the importance of these waivers he said ΓÇ£It is more
important than ever that California and all other states that rely on Clean
Air Act waivers continue to cut tailpipe pollution through homegrown, health-
protective policies."

This is just the latest in continued efforts by the current administration to
curtail or end legislation that supports or encourages wider adoption of
electric vehicles and environmental protection.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at
https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/s...
gas-powered-vehicle-restrictions-191341389.html?src=rss

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