Just a few days after the Environmental Protection Agency punted California’s vehicle emission waivers to Congress, one lawmaker has already begun the process to eliminate Advanced Clean Cars II, with Advanced Clean Trucks likely next.
Rep. Kevin Kiley, R-Calif., announced his plans to introduce a Congressional Review Act resolution to dissolve Advanced Clean Cars II, which the lawmaker called “California’s electric vehicle mandate.” Approved by the EPA in December, the regulation eliminates new internal combustion engine passenger vehicles in California by 2035. The new rule has been adopted by nearly a dozen states and the District of Columbia.
The Congressional Review Act (CRA) allows Congress to review major rules enacted by agencies. If a simple majority of Congress signs off on a CRA joint resolution of disapproval like Kiley’s, the regulation is eliminated. Furthermore, an agency cannot come back and implement a rule rescinded by a CRA resolution or anything substantially similar. If such a rule ever wants to see the light of day again, it would require the approval of Congress through legislation.
On his first day in his second term, President Donald Trump signed an executive order “to eliminate the ‘electric vehicle (EV) mandate.’”
Trump’s executive order calls for terminating “state emissions waivers that function to limit sales of gasoline-powered automobiles,” likely a reference to California’s Advanced Clean Cars II rule.
On Friday, Feb. 14, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin followed that directive by sending Congress three rules issued during the Biden administration granting California a waiver for Advanced Clean Cars II, Advanced Clean Trucks and the Heavy-Duty Omnibus regulation. Two business days later, the ball was already rolling to get rid of Advanced Clean Cars II.
“Californians should be able to choose the vehicle of their choice and should not have that choice dictated by Gavin Newsom or unelected bureaucrats,” Kiley said in a statement. “Congress now has an important role to play in reining in the regulatory excesses in California that are taking away freedoms and causing economic damage across the country.”
Advanced Clean Cars II is just the first California vehicle emission regulation to face examination by Congress.
CRA resolutions to dismantle Advanced Clean Trucks and the Heavy-Duty Omnibus regulation are also expected.
Advanced Clean Trucks began in California last year and has been adopted by 10 other states. Five of those states – Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon and Washington state – implemented the new rule this year. Trucking associations in those states praised the EPA’s move to have Congress review the regulation.
“(The Oregon Trucking Association) is pleased to see these rules move through the legislative process for review,” Oregon Trucking Association President Jana Jarvis said. “At both the federal level and in our state of Oregon, this major policy change was not debated publicly but was managed through the rulemaking process with limited input. Oregon’s consideration of adopting the ACT happened during the pandemic with limited public feedback.”
New Jersey Motor Truck Association President Helder Rebelo noted that “the trucking industry is nowhere close to being ready for (electric) trucks.”
“If Congress thinks EV trucks (and cars) are a good idea, then pass a bill and mandate EVs,” Rebelo said. “If Congress doesn’t think EVs are a good idea, then pass a bill and kill the regulations. Either way, the American people deserve to be governed by the opinions of those we elect to make our laws who are accountable to us, not the opinions of the unelected, unknown and unaccountable.” LL
Credit: Source link
