California is suing the federal government through the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over its challenge to state rules for stricter limits on vehicle emissions, the California Attorney General’s Office said on June 22.
Earlier in June, the federal agency said California was usurping EPA authority through its rulemaking and contested four waivers granted by previous administrations without congressional review. It said it had “determined that each of these waivers is a rule” and sought their review “as mandated under the CRA (Congressional Review Act).”
The waivers allowed the state to impose stricter emissions standards for cars, trucks, lawn mowers, and other equipment than federally required, resulting in a “push towards electric vehicles across the nation” and challenges for automakers to fit California’s standards, impacting vehicle costs across the board due to the restrictions in America’s largest market, the EPA explained at the time.
One of the waivers, known as Advanced Clean Cars I (ACC I), had been revoked during President Donald Trump’s first term, only to be reinstated under the Biden administration in 2022.
Another waiver imposed emissions limits on lawn and garden tools, resulting in a push toward their electrification and higher costs for consumers and businesses, the federal agency said.
“EPA is accountable to Congress, but most importantly, we must be accountable to the American people,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said on June 12 about the federal actions.
“It is important for EPA to fulfill our statutory obligation to submit these California waivers to Congress for their review pursuant to the law.”
In its challenge filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, California called the requirement for congressional review under the CRA “illegal.”
In its filing, it claimed that no federal agency has a “magic wand” to determine that what was “finalized as an adjudicatory order” is now considered a “rule” under a different administration.
“The Trump Administration is doubling down on its unlawful attack on California’s longstanding authority to address air pollution and adopt clean vehicle and equipment standards that protect our State and residents,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement.
“For 50 years, both Democratic and Republican administrations have agreed that EPA Clean Air Act waivers are not rules, and EPA’s unlawful attempt to reclassify them—years after the fact—is an illegal attempt to take down these important tools.”
He added that such a change would result in public health risks from smog and particulates, as well as climate impacts, and increase market uncertainty. Newsom previously said the federal actions would “Make America Smoggy Again.”
Lauren Sanchez, chair of the California Air Resources Board (CARB), which is a plaintiff in the case, said, “While the federal government creates chaos and gets caught up in short‑sighted political fights, California is staying focused on our commitment to uphold the right to breathe clean air.”
The Epoch Times has contacted the EPA for comment.
Clear Air Act
Under the federal Clean Air Act (Section 209), adopted in 1970, Congress blocked states from setting their own new-vehicle emissions standards to avoid a patchwork of rules that would burden automakers, and handed rule-making power to the federal government.
However, California, due to its severe air pollution problems and innovative business landscape at the time, was granted an exemption under Section 209(b), barring three requirements for review by the EPA administrator, including the requirement that state standards “meet compelling and extraordinary conditions.”
The EPA has criticized California’s aggressive push toward electric vehicles and stricter greenhouse gas/tailpipe rules, calling it a costly overreach, with the single state dictating national policy through waivers to the detriment of consumers, automakers, and the economy nationwide. Under CAA Section 177, the waivers present other states with a pathway to adopt California’s rules.
The contest is whether California’s waivers are “rules” under the CRA passed in 1996, which created a tool allowing Congress to repeal recent agency “rules” with a simple majority and presidential signature.
Since 1970, the EPA has taken nearly 150 actions under that authority. Zeldin filed California’s specific state request as a general rule and not an “adjudicatory order.”
In June 2025, Trump signed off on CRA repeals of three other California waivers—Advanced Clean Cars II, Advanced Clean Trucks, and Heavy-Duty Engine Omnibus NOx—granted under the Biden administration to phase out new gasoline-powered cars by 2035. Toyota, GM, and other automakers had lobbied for relief from California’s emissions regulations.
At the time, lawmakers pushed for the waiver by proposing the “Preserving Choice in Vehicle Purchases Act of 2023,” which failed to pass.
That repeal is also being challenged in court, with 10 other Democrat-led states joining California as plaintiffs. They argue that the EPA’s decisions to grant the waivers are adjudicatory orders, not “rules” subject to congressional review, and that the repeals violated the Clean Air Act, Administrative Procedure Act, separation of powers, and federalism principles.
The Government Accountability Office said in March 2025 that the Biden-era waivers in question were not a “rule” because they were specific to California.
Environmental groups have expressed support for California’s position in amicus briefs, while automakers, businesses, and red states have supported the repeals.
These efforts align with broader actions by the Trump administration to deregulate, such as rescinding the Obama-era 2009 “endangerment finding” that regulated greenhouse gases.
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