The Trump Administration Is Trying an End Run around Revoking California’s Car and Truck Rules

February 18, 2025

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by Ann Carlson and Mary Nichols (Legal Planet) Last Friday, EPA’s Administrator Lee Zeldin announced a new and unprecedented way to try to prevent California from implementing its ambitious program to move toward 100 percent zero emission vehicles. This time around, the Trump Administration is trying a new tactic. Rather than revoking EPA’s decision (called a waiver) to allow California’s program to move forward by using standard administrative procedures, as EPA did during Trump’s first term, Zeldin is trying to use the Congressional Review Act to do so. Despite this unprecedented use of the CRA, most of the press seems not to have noticed given the non-stop shock and awe campaign the White House has engaged in since Day 1 of the Administration.

The CRA requires agencies to submit rules it plans to issue to Congress, but even more importantly, the Act allows Congress to reject rules that were adopted at the end of a President’s term. Republicans have already introduced numerous resolutions to overturn Biden Administration rules adopted in the last six months of Biden’s term. But Zeldin’s actions face a major problem: the Congressional Review Act doesn’t cover administrative actions like the California waivers and Congress can’t use the CRA to overturn them.

Trump has made no secret either of his antipathy toward zero emission vehicles or of his intent to revoke the special authority California has under the Clean Air Act to issue its own vehicle pollution standards.

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The problem for California legally is that under the Clean Air Act, the state can’t issue tough emissions standards without EPA’s permission. But EPA has its own problem: under President Biden, the agency already granted California waivers to implement its Advanced Clean Car II program, its Advanced Clean Trucks rule, and something called the Omnibus Nox rule, which also applies to trucks. And the granting of the waivers are on very strong legal grounds because California needs them to meet tough federal air pollution standards that at least two regions of the state (Southern California and the Central Valley) are out of compliance with. For an explanation of the legal strength of the waivers EPA granted, see here.

If EPA tries to overturn the waivers by rescinding permission, California will surely challenge the recission of the waivers and has a very strong legal case. And rescinding the waiver takes months and months: in Trump 1 it took EPA 18 months to rescind the Advanced Clean Car I waiver. In the meantime the California rules remain in effect. So Zeldin is trying something new.

Republicans have increasingly turned to the Congressional Review Act to undo environmental policies. The CRA has two steps: it first requires agencies to submit rules to Congress before they will be published. Once a rule is finalized, the CRA allows the two houses of Congress to reject the rule by passing a joint resolution for the President’s signature. The consequences are serious: if signed by the President, the regulation is void and the agency is prohibited from acting to amend or substitute a “substantially similar” regulation .

The problem for Zeldin, though, is that the Congressional Review Act doesn’t apply to California waivers. The statute explicitly excludes from the process rules of “particular applicability.” The U.S. General Accountability Office has made absolutely clear that California waivers are not covered by the CRA, saying that a waiver “is an adjudicatory order not subject to the CRA.” And even Utah Republican Senator Mike Lee has admitted as much, acknowledging that “California’s CAA federal preemption waivers cannot be reviewed under the Congressional Review Act (CRA) because the waiver granted by EPA is not a rule as that term is defined in the CRA.” So Zeldin’s argument that EPA failed to submit the waiver decisions to Congress is simply wrong legally. Now he’s trying to redo what EPA wasn’t required to do: submit the waiver decisions to Congress. The next step will be to get Congress to overturn them.

The fact that the CRA doesn’t apply to California’s waivers probably won’t stop Congress from overturning them. The Administration’s assault on environmental policies is unrelenting. Then we will inevitably see a lawsuit to determine whether Congress has the power to invalidate a decision that isn’t included in the terms of the Congressional Review Act. READ MORE

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Trump EPA to Transmit California Waivers to Congress in Accordance with Statutory Reporting Requirements (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency)
EPA Critics Claim Trump, GOP Can Target California ZEV Waiver Using CRA (Inside EPA)
EPA moves to strike down California vehicle emission rules for good (Land Line)
EPA grants California waiver for low-NOx truck emissions rule: The rule had been adopted by nine states in anticipation of the waiver. But President Trump had previously sparred with California over its emissions rules, and many expect him to do so again. (Waste Dive)
Energy secretary blasts ‘sinister’ zero carbon emissions goal (The Hill)

Excerpt from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: Today, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin announced in the Oval Office, alongside President Donald Trump and the newly created National Energy Dominance Council, that the EPA will be transmitting to Congress the Biden Administration’s rules granting waivers that allowed California to preempt federal car and truck standards promulgated by 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. The Trump EPA is transparently correcting this wrong and rightly following the rule of law,” said Administrator Zeldin. “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 EPA rules granting California waivers transmitted to Congress include California’s Advanced Clean Cars II, Advanced Clean Trucks, and Omnibus NOx rules. The two waivers regarding trucks not only increased the cost of those vehicles but also increased the costs of goods and the cost of living for American families across the country.

In his first week at EPA, Administrator Zeldin announced his “Powering the Great American Comeback” initiative to guide EPA’s work to protect human health and the environment while restoring the greatness of the American economy for the first 100 days and beyond. Today’s action advances two of the five pillars of this initiative: Permitting Reform, Cooperative Federalism, and Cross-Agency Partnership, and Protecting and Bringing Back American Auto Jobs. READ MORE

Excerpt from Land Line: On Friday, Feb. 14, the EPA announced it will be sending Congress three rules issued during the Biden administration granting California a waiver for Advanced Clean Cars II, Advanced Clean Trucks and the Heavy-Duty Omnibus regulation. Using the Congressional Review Act, Congress will review the rules and could strike them down with a simple-majority vote.

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Although the Advanced Clean Cars II and Omnibus rule waivers just barely fall within that 60-day window, Advanced Clean Trucks was given the green light in March 2023. However, the Trump administration is taking advantage of a loophole in the Congressional Review Act to put Advanced Clean Trucks on the chopping block.

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Trucking stakeholders applauded the EPA’s move to roll back Advanced Clean Trucks amid pleas to delay implementation of the rule in five states.

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association said it appreciates the EPA’s efforts to protect small-business truckers across the country “from California’s regulatory encroachments.”

“Setting national policy is the responsibility of Congress, not California. It’s no wonder small-business truckers have left the state in droves to find better opportunities elsewhere,” OOIDA President Todd Spencer said. “For OOIDA members, vehicle reliability and affordability are critical. So far, there is no convincing evidence that electric commercial motor vehicles are a viable option for small-business truckers given the high costs and inadequate charging infrastructure. Additionally, CARB’s overreaching Omnibus NOx rules have raised prices on new vehicles and increased maintenance costs for trucks already on the road.”

Trucking Association of Massachusetts Executive Director Kevin Weeks said the association looks forward to working with state regulators to find “practical solutions that continue to minimize emissions and promote a cleaner and safer environment in the Commonwealth.” Massachusetts is one of the states that began Advanced Clean Trucks rules this year.

“As the commercial transportation industry has consistently stated, we support initiatives for a cleaner environment and the ongoing effort to reduce emissions wherever feasible,” Weeks told Land Line in an email. “However, the electrification of the medium- and heavy-duty truck segment presents significant challenges. The current state of technology, affordability, applicability and infrastructure are not adequately prepared for widespread electrification in this sector.”

Washington state also began Advanced Clean Trucks in January.

Washington Trucking Association President Sheri Call said revoking the waiver would “significantly benefit (medium- and heavy-duty) trucks, which we would welcome.”

“A fragmented multi-state approach which we currently have going won’t address the industries’ long-term decarbonization challenges and will continue to hamper progress,” Call said. “That, and excluding near-zero emission technologies as prescribed by CARB will impede short-term efforts to reduce diesel emissions. The situation is uncertain due to unpredictable state leadership response and potential lengthy litigation over a waiver revocation.”

The American Trucking Associations also commended the EPA’s move to send Advanced Clean Trucks to Congress for review.

“This is not the United States of California,” ATA President Chris Spear said in a statement. “California should never be given the keys to set national policy and regulate America’s supply chain.”