Latest news with #CaliforniaBan
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Trump blocks California's ban on new sales of gas-powered cars
The Brief President Trump has blocked California's 2035 ban on the sale of gas-powered vehicles. In response to his blocking, California has filed a lawsuit challenging the motion. President Donald Trump signed a resolution blocking California's first-in-the-nation rule banning the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035. The state quickly announced it was challenging the move in court. What we know The resolution was approved by Congress last month and aims to quash the country's most aggressive attempt to phase out gas-powered cars. Trump also signed measures to overturn state policies curbing tailpipe emissions in certain vehicles and smog-forming nitrogen oxide pollution from trucks. Trump called California's regulations "crazy" at a White House ceremony where he signed the resolutions on Thursday. "It's been a disaster for this country," he said. The other side In response to the president's decision, California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit, saying Trump's actions "will have life or death consequences for CA communities breathing dirty, toxic air." "We've filed our lawsuit against the Trump Admin for illegally targeting California's clean vehicles program. CA will fiercely defend ourselves from this lawless federal overreach," Bonta wrote in a post on X. Dig deeper The three resolutions Trump signed will block California's rule phasing out gas-powered cars and end the sale of new ones by 2035. They will also kill rules that phase out the sale of medium- and heavy-duty diesel vehicles and cut tailpipe emissions from trucks. In his remarks at the White House, Trump expressed doubts about the performance and reliability of electric vehicles, though he had some notably positive comments about the company owned by Elon Musk, despite their fractured relationship. "I like Tesla," Trump said. In remarks that often meandered away from the subject at hand, Trump used the East Room ceremony to also muse on windmills, which he claimed "are killing our country," the prospect of getting electrocuted by an electric-powered boat if it sank and whether he'd risk a shark attack by jumping as the boat went down. "I'll take electrocution every single day," the president said. When it comes to cars, Trump said he likes combustion engines but for those that prefer otherwise, "If you want to buy electric, you can buy electric." What they're saying "What this does is it gives us freedom," said Bill Kent, the owner of Kent Kwik convenience stores. Kent, speaking at the White House, said that the California rules would have forced him to install "infrastructure that frankly, is extremely expensive and doesn't give you any return." The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which represents major car makers, applauded Trump's action. "Everyone agreed these EV sales mandates were never achievable and wildly unrealistic," John Bozzella, the group's president and CEO, said in a statement. Trump's signing of the resolutions comes as he has pledged to revive American auto manufacturing and boost oil and gas drilling. The move follows other steps the Trump administration has taken to roll back rules that aim to protect air and water and reduce emissions that cause climate change. The Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday proposed repealing rules that limit greenhouse gas emissions from power plants fueled by coal and natural gas. Dan Becker with the Center for Biological Diversity, said the signing of the resolutions was "Trump's latest betrayal of democracy." "Signing this bill is a flagrant abuse of the law to reward Big Oil and Big Auto corporations at the expense of everyday people's health and their wallets," Becker said in a statement. California, which has some of the nation's worst air pollution, has been able to seek waivers for decades from the EPA, allowing it to adopt stricter emissions standards than the federal government. In his first term, Trump revoked California's ability to enforce its standards, but Democratic President Joe Biden reinstated it in 2022. Trump has not yet sought to revoke it again. Republicans have long criticized those waivers and earlier this year opted to use the Congressional Review Act, a law aimed at improving congressional oversight of actions by federal agencies, to try to block the rules. That's despite a finding from the U.S. Government Accountability Office, a nonpartisan congressional watchdog, that California's standards cannot legally be blocked using the Congressional Review Act. The Senate parliamentarian agreed with that finding. California, which makes up roughly 11% of the U.S. car market, has significant power to sway trends in the auto industry. About a dozen states signed on to adopt California's rule phasing out the sale of new gas-powered cars. The Source Information for this story came from President Donald Trump, an X post by AG Rob Bonta, and the Associated Press.
CNN
11-06-2025
- Automotive
- CNN
Trump is expected to sign resolution this week reversing California's ban on gas-powered cars, GOP congressman says
President Donald Trump is expected to sign a set of resolutions this week to reverse California's 2035 ban on the sale of new gas-powered cars, a Republican co-sponsor said Tuesday. 'On Thursday, President Trump will sign my Resolution to reverse California's absurd ban on gas-powered cars,' California GOP Rep. Kevin Kiley said in a Tuesday post on X. Several Biden-era waivers allowed California to set its own vehicle emissions, and a reversal would be another blow to the state's effort to regulate pollution from cars and trucks. California has had authority to set its own emissions for decades; Trump reversed it in his first term before the Biden administration reinstated it. The move could also have broad environmental impacts for the rest of the country, as more than a dozen states are following California's emissions rules. The Republican-led Senate overturned the three Biden-era emissions waivers in May, with California Gov. Gavin Newsom claiming last month the vote was illegal. To do so, Republicans bypassed the 60-vote threshold typically needed to approve such a measure. Democrats charged that move would weaken the long-established legislative filibuster, besides its environmental impact. CNN has reached out to California Attorney General Rob Bonta's office and the White House for comment. Trump signed an executive order his first day in office to end the 'electric vehicle mandate.' But despite his use of that term during the campaign and since taking office, there have never been any federal rules requiring consumers to buy only EVs. But California does have emission rules that would ban the sale of gasoline-powered vehicles by 2035. Trump already tried to limit the power of California to regulate its own air pollution during his first term in office. The issue ended up in the courts, but that legal battle was put on hold after he left office and the state's authority was restored by President Joe Biden.
Motor Trend
23-05-2025
- Automotive
- Motor Trend
Congress Sends Bill Blocking California's EV Mandate to Trump, But Doesn't Stop There
California's ambitious ban on sales of new internal-combustion-engine (ICE) vehicles, set to phase in by 2035, is a target in the latest bills being sent from congress to President Trump's desk to be signed into law. This was probably easy to predict: Republicans in congress, in lockstep with the fossil fuel industry, have long chased California's EPA waiver to set its own fuel economy standards that are stricter than the federal government's own rules. California is not only the biggest car market in the country, but several other states adopt its stricter standards—making it a rich target for those who balk at any regulations that encourage EV adoption. 0:00 / 0:00 When originally introduced in 2020, the California ban was seen as aggressive and championed by environmentalists while, to critics, was touted as proof that federal EV mandates were coming and removing consumer vehicle choice (as stated by the Specialty Equipment Manufacturers Association , SEMA). But as reported in the Associated Press, the bill targeting California's EV mandate wasn't the only bill being sent to Trump that's related to California's efforts to curb pollution in the state. The second and third measures passed by Congress would block California from enforcing its own tailpipe emissions regulations—essentially, attacking its EPA waiver to set its own environmental standards—and rules on the emissions of nitrogen oxide pollution on commercial and heavy-duty trucks. Essentially, Congress is trying to curb the ability of a state to control its own pollution standards, something that has been legal to do with EPA waivers since 1967 with the Federal Air Quality Act in addition to the Clean Air Act of 1970. Part of these acts were State implementation plans (SIPs)—a federal enforcement model and the waivers you hear about—as a way for states to control pollution locally, as states would have a better understanding of their own air quality conditions. Ironically, California was sued in 1970 by the EPA, as it was unable to meet the EPAs standards of the time. The SIP rule allowed California to enact its own pollution rules through the California Air Resources Board (CARB)—a panel signed into existence with the 1967 Mulford-Carrell Act signed by Ronald Reagan, then governor of the state. Those standards are viewed by the Clean Air acts as the minimum and that no state could mandate anything less, but there is nothing against implementing tighter requirements. But, again, those regulations have reach beyond California: 16 states and the District of Columbia follow CARB rules on pollution and equally rely on the Clean Air Act and its SIP allowance. It's also an open secret of sorts, but since as much as 11 percent of all new cars are sold in the state, OEMs already build their pollution controls hardware around the CARB model. It's mostly as a matter of convenience to build only a single pollution control system for a vehicle. The only real differences are the emissions stickers put on California cars versus 'Federal' emissions ones and some additional engine software calibrations in some cases. While there are many who will cheer this break from 58 years of California's dominion over its air quality, these entities shouldn't break out the champagne just yet. California already has plans to sue if—or, more likely, when—these bills are signed by President Trump. This is also not the first time California's emissions regulations have been challenged; it happened as recently as 2020. With nearly six decades of law behind them, California has precedent on its side. But as we've seen with Trump's convulsive tariff game, that might not matter...
