California’s long-held right to set tougher-than-federal vehicle emissions rules was yanked away this week as President Trump signed a trio of bills canceling the state’s ability to set its own emissions standards.
The action was expected – Trump’s been promising to do it and his EPA did the same thing in 2019 during his first term in office. That attempt fizzled after being stalled by court challenges until Trump lost his 2020 re-election bid and the Biden Administration restored the waiver authority.
The latest attempt will be decided in court as well. California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed suit in concert with the attorneys general of 10 other states within hours of the orders being signed.
The suit claims Congress’ use of the Congressional Review Act to upend the California emissions waivers authority was illegal. The review act applies to recently filed rules while the California emissions waivers right is more than 50 years old..
It’s an interesting turn of events for a Republican administration to ignore the conservative ideal of states’ rights by attacking a state’s right to make rules that affect its environment and the quality of life for its citizens.
The right for California to seek waivers from relatively lax federal emissions standards was written into law in the 1970 update of the federal Clean Air Act and has been upheld in court several times since then – most recently at the end of 2024..
California has applied for and received waivers from the EPA under both Republican and Democrat administrations more than 100 times since 1970.
The state’s right to set its own, tougher, air quality regulations most recently was declared constitutional in a decision by the federal appeals court for the District of Columbia. That decision was appealed to the Supreme Court, which in December 2024 declined to take the case, effectively upholding the appeals court’s decision.
Trump’s opposition to the California emissions waivers stems from his “drill, baby, drill” enthusiasm for fossil fuels and the financial support he’s received from oil and gas interests over the years. It is bolstered by aversion to rules that force change he and his supporters oppose
“We officially rescue the U.S. auto industry from destruction by terminating California’s electric vehicle mandate, once and for all,” Trump said at a bill signing ceremony Tn the White House on Thursday. He was accompanied by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, Energy Secretary Chris Wright and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin.
The three measures were approved by a Republican-dominated Congress in May. If upheld in court, they would invalidate a trio of California’s toughest vehicle emission controls:
- The Advanced Clean Cars II rule requiring automakers to sell their California dealerships increasing percentages of new zero-emission or long-range hybrid vehicles, starting at 35% in 2026 and culminating in 2035 with a ban on the sale of new gas-only cars in California. It would have allowed sales of highly efficient gas-electric hybrids, however, and didn’t ban sales and resales of used gas-only cars.
- The Advanced Clean Trucks rule requiring most medium- and heavy-duty trucks sold in and after 2035 to be zero-emission vehicles.
- The Heavy-Duty Engine and Vehicle Omnibus rule establishing cleaner internal combustion engine standards for new heavy-duty vehicles.
California’s emissions rules can be adopted by other states not happy with federal requirements and so far 12 others have, two more have adopted some of California’s standards but not all, and two others are considering adoption of the standards.
Combined, they represent more than 30 % of the entire new car market in the U.S., making them a force the auto industry can’t ignore. Their insistence on regulating vehicle emissions to help provide cleaner air than possible under federal standards has driven the auto industry – usually unwillingly – to develop cleaner internal combustion engines (ICEs) and alternatives such as gas-electric hybrids, battery-electric cars and trucks, and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles.
California stoked Trump’s wrath when it recently set new emissions standards that effectively promote EVs, plug-in hybrids, or PHEVs, and fuel-cell vehicles, or FCEVs, over purely internal combustion vehicles, which can’t meet the standards with today’s engine technologies. California’s latest round of emissions standards make possible Gov. Gavin Newsom’s 2020 executive order banning sale of new ICE-only passenger vehicles in the state after 2035.
Conservatives began calling the rules an EV mandate and Trump picked up the banner in his successful 2024 campaign for a second term, vowing to eliminate “EV mandates” across the board.
The action brought quick response from supporters of California’s waiver authority.
It “has been a benchmark state right for almost sixty years…It has been consistently upheld in federal law not only because of its success in dealing with a major local air pollution problem for the last half century, but also as a positive example of cooperative federalism and the importance of balancing state and federal authority in delivering the best policy outcomes for citizens,” Albert Gore, executive director of the Zero Emission Transportation Assn., said in a statement released shortly after Trump signed the orders.
“Instead of investing in electric vehicle manufacturing here in the U.S. and leading us towards a healthier future, the administration is dead set on pushing us backwards and ceding EV innovation and leadership to China,” said Katherine Garcia, director of the Sierra Club’s Clean Transportation for All program. “The Sierra Club will continue to fight for clean transportation solutions across the country.”
Indeed, if U.S. automakers have no reason to develop EVs for their home market, they could become technologically outdated and unable to compete in Asia and Europe, where government pressure continues to promote EVs. China already is the world’s largest EV manufacturer and is taking the lead in development of long-range batteries and ultra-fast charging for EVs.
“The chief winners of this move are the oil industry and China. Electric vehicles are the main threat to the demand for oil, and this move further cements China as the global leader in producing electric vehicles,” Michael Gerrard, founder of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University, told NBC News.
But most legacy automakers have long been opposed to dealing with two sets of emissions standards in the U.S. They see revocation of California’s waiver rights – which also cancels the tougher-than-federal emissions rules in the 14 states that have adopted all or part of California’s rules – as a positive that doesn’t rule out further development of EVs and EV technology, although not at the pace California and as many as 16 other states would like to see.
“We have long advocated for one national standard that will allow us to stay competitive, continue to invest in U.S. innovation, and offer customer choice across the broadest lineup of gas-powered and electric vehicles,” a General Motors spokesperson said in a statement released shortly after Trump’s action.