This month, Congress announced two bills in the Senate that both hope to make changes to the existing Clean Air Act. Specifically, the bills would be implemented to limit or entirely cut the waivers that have been granted to California that allow the state to have such strict emissions regulations. The waivers have allowed California to have regulations that are stricter than the federal regulations and the bills and their backers hope to return California back to federal regulations.
The first bill introduced in the Senate is making it’s second attempt after failing the first time.
This bill, known as the Preserving Choice in Vehicle Purchases Act, is backed by a Republican Senator from Oklahoma. This bill would put in place limits on the Environmental Protection Agency, limiting them on the Clean Air Act waivers that can be issued for state policies. The state policies in question specifically are ones that make efforts to ban or limit the sale of internal combustion engine vehicles.
In addition to limiting the waivers, the bill would require the EPA to revoke any waiver that has been granted since January 1, 2022. This is essentially a targeted bill meant to force the EPA to revoke California’s Advanced Clean Trucks and Omnibus Low-NOX rules. The supporters of this bill believe that California legislation regarding the sale of non-electric vehicles infringes on the right of a person’s choice in choosing what kind of vehicle they want to purchase. A separate bill that is nearly identical to the Preserving Choice in Vehicle Purchases Act has been brought forth in the House of Representatives as well.
The second bill presented in the Senate is being called the Stop CARB Act.
The full name of the bill is the Stop California from Advancing Regulatory Burden Act. This bill is backed by a Republican Senator from Utah and specifically seeks to end California’s Clean Air Act waiver exemption. It also targets Section 177 of the Clean Air Act, wanting to repeal the section that allows for other states to follow in California’s footsteps and adopt their emission regulations. Lastly, it pushes to end any active or pending waivers for California related to the Clean Air Act.
Supporters of this bill accuse California of abusing the federal law.
Senator Mike Lee, the Utah Senator backing the Stop CARB Act, says “California has abused the Clean Air Act’s waiver provision for years, essentially imposing ridiculous emission standards on the other 49 states.”
These bills are not the first attempts at fighting CARB, as even the EPA itself tried to push back after the current Trump administration took office. The EPA under the Biden Administration expected this pushback to happen quickly after the switch of power happened and set in place several obstacles making it hard to eliminate CARB.
Because this round of bills are still fresh in Congress, little progress has been made for them. It is unclear how the Congress members will vote and if these attempts to block CARB will be successful or not.
