US judge bars EPA effort to send California vehicle emissions rules to Congress
The court said the waivers are likely orders, not rules, after EPA tried to use the Congressional Review Act to overturn California pollution standards.
- On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell blocked the Environmental Protection Agency from reclassifying California's clean-air waivers as 'rules' subject to Congressional Review Act repeal.
- EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin unilaterally reclassified four previously granted waivers as 'rules' last year, attempting to bypass the 60-vote threshold required for most legislation and trigger a simple-majority repeal.
- Judge Howell criticized the EPA's attempt to 'engage in Orwellian doublethink' by labeling waivers as 'rules' to Congress while maintaining they were not; California has used this waiver process for over 50 years.
- The court ordered the EPA to 'withdraw or correct' its reclassifications and submit a status report by September 21, preserving vital safeguards for 40 million Californians.
- California Attorney General Rob Bonta called the injunction a 'key victory' that rebuffs the Trump administration's effort to limit the state's authority to enforce emission standards.
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Federal Judge Blocks Trump EPA’s Efforts to Attack Clean Air Waivers - CleanTechnica
Support CleanTechnica's work through a Substack subscription, on Patreon, or on Stripe. Help us produce all of the high-quality, original content we publish week after week despite the challenges of content-scraping AI, antisocial media, inflation, and other hurdles. WASHINGTON, D.C. — Yesterday, a federal judge granted California a preliminary injunction blocking EPA’s ...
US judge bars EPA effort to send California vehicle emissions rules to Congress
A judge in Washington on Wednesday blocked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from sending landmark California vehicle emissions rules for a potential repeal to the Republican-controlled Congress.
Judge Halts Trump Administration's Plans to Kill California's Higher Emissions Standards
WASHINGTON D.C. (KEYT) – A federal judge blocked the Trump Administration's attempts to unilaterally deny Clean Air Act waivers submitted by California to have higher emissions standards than required under federal law by unlawfully recategorizing the requests when sharing them with Congress. "This is no run-of-the-mill challenge to agency action under the Administrative Procedure Act ('APA'), 5 U.S.C. § 551 et seq. At stake in this case is purp…
Federal Judge Blocks Trump EPA’s Efforts to Attack Clean Air Waivers
Yesterday, a federal judge granted California a preliminary injunction blocking EPA’s actions targeting four Clean Air Act preemption waivers previously granted to California.Senior U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell also denied EPA’s motion to dismiss the case.The preliminary injunction ordered EPA to “restore the status quo” before announcing the reclassification of four clean air waivers. EPA unlawfully reclassified the waivers so Congress coul…
Court halts Trump effort to help Congress overturn California clean car rules
A federal judge temporarily blocked a Trump administration attempt to allow Congress to overturn California's vehicle and lawn equipment emissions rules via the Congressional Review Act.
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