By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON, Sept 15 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday appealed a federal court’s ruling blocking the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from sending landmark California vehicle emissions rules to the Republican-controlled U.S. Congress seeking a fast-track repeal.
On September 2, U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell in Washington ruled the EPA had acted improperly by sending four waivers in June to Congress for review, including rules enacting stricter emissions standards for cars and trucks as well as for lawn-and-garden equipment.
The Trump administration has mounted a multi-pronged effort to deny California the ability to require cleaner and more electric vehicles. The EPA and Congress have also enacted rules making it easier for automakers to sell more gasoline-powered cars and trucks, while making it more expensive to buy EVs.
If the Trump administration is successful, it would bar California indefinitely from regulating tailpipe emissions and a future Democratic president would be unable to easily reinstate its regulatory powers.
In June, the EPA said the vehicle emissions waivers granted to California under prior Democratic administrations should have been sent to lawmakers under the Congressional Review Act, which would allow the U.S. Senate to repeal them by a simple majority rather than the 60 votes needed for most legislation.
The CRA allows only regulations to be repealed. California sued to block the action in federal court, saying it was illegal to send the waivers to the Senate under the CRA since they were waivers and not regulations.
Separately, the U.S. House of Representatives is set to vote as soon as this week to repeal California environmental rules on ocean-going vessels and commercial harbor craft, despite Howell’s ruling Friday that declared the EPA’s transmission of those rules to Congress in July improper.
Last year, Congress rescinded authority for California to outlaw gasoline-powered vehicles after 2035. Toyota, General Motors and other automakers had lobbied for relief from the state’s emissions regulations.
The action came after the EPA sent the waivers to Congress for repeal. A separate legal challenge from California on that action is pending.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by David Gregorio)
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