The Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday granted a waiver to the California Air Resources Board to enforce the Advanced Clean Cars II (ACC II) regulation. The state must now move toward 100% sales of zero-emission light- and medium-duty engines and vehicles by 2035, beginning with 35% of cars sold in 2026.
Gov. Gavin Newsom's office reaffirmed their position that the rule will increase consumer choice by requiring automakers to deliver a steadily increasing number of clean vehicles to California, from subcompacts to light-duty pickup trucks.
Chet Thompson, president and CEO of the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers Association, wrote in a statement Wednesday that the Biden-Harris EPA is "telling Americans what kinds of cars we have to drive."
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“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,” argued Thompson.
When CARB passed ACC II in 2022, the biofuels industry raised alarms that CARB was not making space for low-carbon alternatives in trying to meet its clean energy goals. Farm interests feared the cost implications, with the state’s rising energy rates and an overexerted grid.
A second request was approved for the Heavy-Duty Omnibus regulation, passed in 2020. It includes a rule to reduce nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions in heavy-duty highway and off-road vehicles and engines, requiring manufacturers to ramp-up engine testing procedures and extend engine warranties.
CARB expects the rule will cut heavy-duty NOx emissions by 90% and save $23 billion dollars in healthcare costs.
“Consumers and fleets are increasingly making the choice to drive clean vehicles, and today's waiver approvals will further that progress,” CARB Chair Liane Randolph wrote in a statement.
Senate Environment and Public Works Committee ranking member Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.V., wrote in a statement that the decision fails to meet waiver requirements under the Clean Air Act and promised to reverse the "lame duck action."
“The American people want consumer choice – not an EV mandate," she wrote.
Six other CARB waivers are awaiting EPA approval, including a sales ban on diesel-powered trucks and mandates for clean boats, forklifts and trains.
This article was updated to include Sen.Capito's statement.
