by Steve Milloy, E&E Legal Senior Policy Fellow and Junkscience.com Founder
As appearing in the Daily Caller
Who runs the Senate? The democratically elected Majority Leader, Sen. John Thune? Or leftover partisan Harry Reid-appointee, Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough?
The answer to that question may very well determine whether the Republican-controlled Senate will able to vote this week on whether to repeal the Biden EPA decision to allow California to establish a national mandate for electric vehicles (EVs).
The Clean Air Act allows EPA to grant waivers to the state of California in order for the state to set more stringent air pollution regulations than EPA sets for other states. The basic rational for this rule is that California has special environmental conditions. The populous Los Angeles region, for example, is located essentially in a bowl that traps and concentrates air pollution when the wind isn’t blowing.
In December 2024, the Biden EPA granted California a Clean Air Act waiver to mandate that only EVs can be sold in the state by 2035. Although California’s mandate technically only applies to the state, it is really a national problem.
