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 to CARB.
As Regan referenced in his statement, EPA allows California to go above and beyond thresholds established by certain federal air quality regulations, a practice that dates back to the Nixon administration, according to CARB and EPA. California was thought to need the ability to issue more stringent air regulations because the state’s geography and climate have exacerbated air pollution.
However, critics of CARB and EPA have asserted that the Advanced Clean Cars II waiver will force automakers to essentially follow California’s standards nationwide given how many states are also looking to implement the same policies. This, critics say, effectively amounts to forcing electric vehicles and other zero-emissions models on consumers in states that generally do not want to abide by California’s emissions policy.
Industry groups slammed the lame duck Biden EPA for issuing the lame duck waiver and paving the way for California to massively influence what kinds of cars are available to consumers living elsewhere in the U.S.
“Contrary to claims on the campaign trail that they would never tell Americans what kinds of cars we have to drive, the Biden-Harris EPA just did exactly that by greenlighting California’s ban on sales of all new gas and traditional hybrid vehicles. EPA’s authorization of the California ban and California’s ban itself are unlawful,” Chet Thompson, president and CEO of the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers said in a statement. “These policies will harm consumers—millions of whom don’t even live in California—by taking away their ability to buy new gas cars in their home states and raising vehicle and transportation costs. They will also undermine U.S. energy and national security. Americans want nothing to do with gas car bans, EV mandates or California radicalism, which they just made abundantly clear at the polls. I suspect this is why EPA waited until after the election to issue this decision.”
Will Hupman, vice president of downstream policy for the American Petroleum Institute, called on President-elect Donald Trump and his administration to rescind California’s EPA waiver and neuter the new rules in his own statement. Trump rescinded CARB waiver authority in his first term, and he campaigned aggressively against electric vehicle mandates and green energy largesse on his way back to the White House.
The EPA did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
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