Biden administration allows California to ban new gas-powered car sales by 2035
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EPA agreed to grant the state’s requests and permit similar proposals from other states, a step Trump has vowed to undo. The Biden administration granted two requests from California to enforce strict standards for vehicle emissions, including a rule aimed at banning sales of new gas-powered cars by 2035 in a move that Donald Trump is expected to roll back immediately.
The Environmental Protection Agency said it would grant California’s request for the waivers to allow the state to enforce the proposed rules, the agency announced on Wednesday. The EPA said its review found that opponents of the two waivers did not meet their legal burden to show how either the EV rule or a separate measure on heavy-duty vehicles was inconsistent with the federal Clean Air Act.
“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,” the EPA administrator, Michael Regan, said in a statement. “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 new waiver is important not only to California, but to more than a dozen other states that follow its nation-leading standards on vehicle emissions. Still, Trump has pledged to immediately undo many of Biden’s climate policies, including those related to emissions and electric vehicles, and reduce regulations on fossil-fuel cars. The incoming president has also said California has the “most ridiculous car regulations” in the world.
