Industry groups ask Congress to repeal California rule setting 2035 EV mandate

Dozens of oil industry, trucking and farm groups have asked Congress to repeal California's rule requiring all new passenger vehicles sold in the state to be emissions-free by 2035, despite a recent legal analysis by the federal government's auditing agency that found Congress lacks the authority to take such action.

The 130 trade groups, including the American Petroleum Institute, the American Farm Bureau Federation, the American Trucking Associations and the US Chamber of Commerce, have asked congressional leaders to repeal California's Advanced Clean Cars II standards. The groups also asked for Congress to similarly revoke separate US Environmental Protection Agency waivers granted to California's Advanced Clean Truck and Heavy-Duty Omnibus rules, which seek to limit emissions from trucking fleets.

The California Air Resources Board approved the ACC II standards in 2022 and then requested permission from the EPA to implement the rules. While the federal Clean Air Act bars states from setting their own vehicle-emission standards, that law grants California a carve-out, allowing the state to petition the EPA for a waiver to set its own rules as long as they are at least as stringent as federal requirements.

On Dec. 18, 2024, as part of a last-minute regulatory blitz before President Joe Biden left office, the EPA approved California's waiver request. However, Republican politicians and industry groups have criticized that decision and called for Congress to block the EPA's move.

Congressional repeal

In their letter, which was sent to the top Republican and Democrat in both the Senate and House of Representatives, the trade groups asked legislators to revoke California's waiver using the Congressional Review Act. Under the CRA, Congress can repeal major agency rules submitted within the last 60 days of a previous Congress through disapproval resolutions requiring simple majority votes in both legislative houses and the president's signature.

In February, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, appointed by new President Donald Trump, submitted the EPA's waiver decision to Congress to lay the groundwork for its repeal via CRA resolutions.

In a March 17 letter to congressional leaders, the trade groups stressed that they "support reducing emissions in the transportation sector" but added that "forced electrification and unachievable standards are not the only way to accomplish this." The groups said California's rules would hurt consumer vehicle choice nationwide, noting that California and the numerous states that have adopted its emissions standards account for some 30% of nationwide light-vehicle sales.

"Congress has the opportunity to halt California's misguided efforts to tell other Americans what kinds of vehicles they can and cannot buy," the letter said. "We support Administrator Lee Zeldin and the EPA's decision to transmit these rules to Congress due to the profound national impact they will have on all Americans. Congress should decide if such consequential rules are right for the American people and the American economy, not California."

Uncertain legal authority

A legal debate is brewing over whether Congress has the ability to block California's new rules. On March 6, in response to a request by three Democratic senators for an opinion on the matter, the Government Accountability Office found that the EPA waiver for the ACC II program was not subject to CRA repeal.

In a memo to the legislators, the GAO said that the EPA's notice granting the ACC II waiver does not qualify as a rule under the Administrative Procedure Act and thus is not eligible for congressional repeal under the CRA.

According to the GAO, the EPA's decision instead represented an order under the APA because it "was particular to California's Advanced Clean Car Program, involved consideration of particular facts, as opposed to general policy, and had immediate effect on California." The GAO added that the same logic applied to California's Advanced Clean Truck and Omnibus waivers as well.

Republicans and the oil industry have not accepted that argument. In a March 5 Senate confirmation hearing, Aaron Szabo, Trump's nominee for assistant administrator of the EPA's Office of Air and Radiation, insisted that EPA Clean Air Act waivers are indeed rules eligible for CRA repeal. Meanwhile, the American Energy Alliance advocacy group in a March 7 statement disputed the GAO's finding and said the agency's opinion carries no legal weight.

Congressional action is not the only way the Trump administration, which has expressed hostility to electric vehicle mandates, could seek to stop California's rules from going into effect.

In 2019, during Trump's first term, the EPA rescinded a waiver it granted to California in 2013 that enabled the state to implement a target requiring that 22% of all new light-vehicle sales in the state be EVs by model year 2025. Under Biden, the EPA reinstated the waiver. The new administration could take similar action over ACC II.