US Court Upholds EPA Decision to Approve California Electric-Vehicle Rules

Source: US News and World Report/Reuters

April 9, 2024, at 10:33 a.m.


WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday upheld the Environmental Protection Agency's decision to grant California a waiver to set its own tailpipe emissions limits and electric-vehicle requirements.

The three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia rejected a legal challenge from 17 Republican-led states and entities that sell or produce liquid fuels. The EPA in March 2022 under President Joe Biden restored California's ability to set its own zero-emission vehicle sales mandate and tailpipe emissions limits through 2025, reversing a 2019 decision by then-President Donald Trump.

California Governor Gavin Newsom said the "court sided with common sense and public health against the fossil fuel industry and Republican-led states. This ruling reaffirms California’s longstanding right to address pollution from cars and trucks."

Republicans argued the rules gave California an unconstitutional regulatory power denied to other states. The court rejected that argument and said reversing the EPA decision would address state claims if automakers responded by selling fewer EVs or by lowering prices of gas-powered models and said there was no evidence to support that conclusion. In 1993, the EPA approved a waiver of California’s first zero-emission vehicle standard.

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