Biden Admin Paves Way For California To Stuff The Rest Of America Into EVs

The Biden administration granted California the authority to ban the sale of new gas-powered cars in the state by 2035 on Wednesday in a move that could have serious implications for the American auto market.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a waiver to allow the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to implement its “Advanced Clean Cars II” regulations, which would gradually eliminate the sale of new gas-powered vehicles in California by 2035. Numerous other states have opted-in to California’s new auto rules, meaning that the same policy will be carried out across the country if the waiver granted Wednesday remains in effect.

“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,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said of the waiver. “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 Advanced Clean Cars II rules are poised to come into effect in model year 2026, incrementally ratcheting up over time until model year 2035, at which point the sale of new gas-powered cars will be barred in the state. Moreover, 11 states — Colorado, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington and Vermont — and Washington, D.C., are all intending to implement CARB’s standard themselves, meaning that they are also on course to ban the sale of new internal combustion engine cars in their jurisdictions by 2035, according