The Environmental Protection Agency announced it will be transmitting to Congress the waivers provided to California that allowed the state to preempt federal car and truck standards.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, speaking from the Oval Office with President Donald Trump, said the waivers should have been delivered to Congress by the previous administration. The waivers allow California to preempt standards set by the EPA and the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
“The Biden Administration failed to send rules on California’s waivers to Congress, preventing Members of Congress from deciding on extremely consequential actions that have massive impacts and costs across the entire United States,” Zeldin said. “The American people are struggling to make ends meet while dealing with rules that take away their ability to choose a safe and affordable vehicle for their families. As an agency, we are accountable to Congress, but most importantly we must be accountable to the American people.”
The rules transmitted to Congress include ones granting California’s Advanced Clean Cars II, Advanced Clean Trucks, and the Omnibus NOx rules that scaled down carbon emissions from light-duty passenger car, pickup truck and SUV vehicles. The EPA said the two waivers regarding trucks increased the cost of the vehicles which, in turn, increased the costs of goods and the cost of living for American families throughout the country.
Zeldin said his “Powering the Great American Comeback” initiative would guide the EPA’s work to protect human health and the environment while restoring the American economy. The office said sending the waivers to Congress supported two of Zeldin’s five pillars of initiative – permitting reform, cooperative federalism, cross-agency partnership, and protecting and bringing back American auto jobs.