by Katy Grimes, E&E Legal Senior Media Fellow and California Globe Editor
As Appearing in the California Globe
EPA Chief Zeldin moves to kill off California regulation waivers
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin just sent California’s vehicle emissions waiver request to Congress for review. This is big and kills California Governor Gavin Newsom’s ban on gas-powered vehicles.
In December, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), on orders from the Biden administration, announced that they approved California’s mandate to ban the sale of all gas-powered vehicles by 2035, attempting to make it more difficult for President Donald Trump to federally stop the mandate once he took office, the Globe reported.
California’s strictest-in-the-nation vehicle regulations require manufacturers to comply with the state’s much more stringent emissions standards, and to produce more zero-emission vehicles for the state. However, this is usually sent to Congress prior to authorization.
Enter EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin who on Friday lifted the order and sent California’s waiver request to Congress for review:
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin announced in the Oval Office, alongside President Donald Trump and the newly created National Energy Dominance Council, that the EPA will be transmitting to Congress the Biden Administration’s rules granting waivers that allowed California to preempt federal car and truck standards promulgated by EPA and the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration…
