The Biden administration granted two requests from California to enforce strict standards for vehicle emissions, including a rule aimed at banning sales of new gas-powered cars by 2035 in a move that Donald Trump is expected to roll back immediately.
The Environmental Protection Agency said it would grant California’s request for the waivers to allow the state to enforce the proposed rules, the agency announced on Wednesday.
The EPA said its review found that opponents of the two waivers did not meet their legal burden to show how either the EV rule or a separate measure on heavy-duty vehicles was inconsistent with the federal Clean Air Act.
“California has longstanding authority to request waivers from EPA to protect its residents from dangerous air pollution coming from mobile sources like cars and trucks,” the EPA administrator, Michael Regan, said in a statement. “Today’s actions follow through on EPA’s commitment to partner with states to reduce emissions and act on the threat of climate change.”
The new waiver is important not only to California, but to more than a dozen other states that follow its nation-leading standards on vehicle emissions.
Still, Trump has pledged to immediately undo many of Biden’s climate policies, including those related to emissions and electric vehicles, and reduce regulations on fossil-fuel cars. The incoming president has also said California has the “most ridiculous car regulations” in the world.
His transition team has proposed blocking California from establishing stricter vehicle emissions-standards. During his first term, Trump thwarted the state’s move to set tougher requirements, which Biden reversed.
In 2022, California approved a ban on the sale of new gasoline-powered vehicles by 2035 in what was hailed as a milestone step to reduce emissions and combat the climate emergency. Under the policy, Californians could keep driving gas-powered vehicles and buying used ones after 2035, but no new models would be sold in the state. Several other states announced similar plans following the decision in California.
California is expected to fight any attempt by Trump to reverse the EPA’s decision.
The state is facing numerous challenges to its ambitious efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The US supreme court agreed last week to hear a case brought by fuel producers seeking to challenge California’s standards for vehicle emissions and electric cars.
Environmental groups hailed the new waivers.
“EPA’s approval is a critical step forward in protecting our lungs from pollution and our wallets from the expenses of combustion fuels,” said Paul Cort, director of Earthjustice’s Right To Zero campaign. “The gradual shift in car sales to zero-emissions models will cut smog and household costs while growing California’s clean energy workforce.”
