The Biden administration is effectively allowing unelected California bureaucrats to make energy policy decisions with far-reaching implications.
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) Extraordinary The federal government has asked the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to enact certain environmental regulations that go beyond federal rules, and the EPA has granted CARB waiver requests during President Joe Biden’s first term. Over time, these waivers and the policy outcomes they foster will enable CARB to change the economies of other states, including states that don’t want to be affected by CARB rules or don’t have any influence over CARB, according to policy experts who spoke with the Daily Caller News Foundation.
“The waivers granted by EPA allow CARB to effectively dictate auto, truck and rail transportation policy in the rest of the country,” Marlo Lewis Jr., a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, told DCNF.
Lewis said the Biden administration is allowing CARB to pursue aggressive emissions regulation and climate policy because “it’s clear that the EPA does not have the authority under the Clean Air Act to explicitly ban the sale of internal combustion engine vehicles, rather than CARB having such authority,” and “the Biden administration would face much greater political backlash if it tried to impose an explicit zero-emission vehicle mandate.” (Related: California asks automakers to prioritize “fairness” in electric vehicle sales)
‘A blow to the working class’: California’s green proposal could raise gas prices by 50 cents https://t.co/OZVZtC0tVH
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) February 27, 2024
The EPA will grant California exemptions to the Clean Air Act if the state proposes to impose regulations that are stricter than existing federal standards, faces “compelling and extraordinary” circumstances, and allows manufacturers sufficient time to adjust and comply. according to To CARB.
“EPA follows the procedures established by the Clean Air Act for determining exemptions for the state of California,” an EPA spokesperson told DCNF. “The exemption review process involves EPA conducting a public comment period, reviewing the comments, and the Administrator determining whether the requirements for obtaining an exemption have been met.”
CARB considers exemptions to be an important policy tool for reducing emissions.
“For more than 50 years, the Clean Air Act has allowed California to apply for a waiver from the federal government to enforce its own motor vehicle standards,” a CARB spokesperson told DCNF. “In enacting this law, Congress recognized that California has a serious air pollution problem and was regulating motor vehicle emissions at a time when the federal government had not yet adopted comparable standards. This law is well-established and highly effective.”
California is the only state in the U.S. that can set its own vehicle emissions standards. according to The Trump administration effectively blocked California’s efforts at the regulation, but the Biden administration later restored California’s authority to pursue stricter auto emissions standards than those enacted by the federal government. according to For E&E News.
With the Biden administration’s approval, CARB Advanced Clean Cars II The rule will require that 100% of new passenger vehicles sold in the state be zero-emission models by 2035.
Seventeen other states have adopted some or all of CARB’s auto emissions standards. according to According to CARB, these states account for roughly half of all U.S. auto sales. according to According to Politico, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, recently announced that his state will not comply with CARB’s Advanced Clean Cars II rules.
Critics They point out that CARB exemptions could create a situation where manufacturers face two different standards for their products, meaning manufacturers would likely design their products to the stricter CARB rules rather than designing two sets of products to two different standards.
In the case of automobiles, automakers are more likely to make all of their vehicles compliant with CARB emissions standards than to produce one fleet that meets CARB’s standards and another that meets less stringent regulations, Ring told DCNF.
“From the Biden administration’s perspective, it’s very noticeable that California is pushing the same goal, and their goal is clearly to impose that on the rest of the country,” Consumers Union executive director O.H. Skinner told DCNF. “Their goal is that even if they lose on one of these efforts, they’ll force compliance, either directly on industry and other groups, or by preventing industry from even noticing the signs of the situation.”
“California is determined to export its progressive lifestyle choices to the rest of the country, and they’re trying to impose that in the form of electric vehicle mandates, electric rail and truck mandates,” Skinner continued. “When you move things out of California’s ports, which are full of ports, that means it’s often impossible for people to get the products they need without first going through California… They understand very well that the state’s size and location allows them to force legislation on industries, even if the majority of those industries or their customers don’t want it.”
The federal government also gave CARB another rule The bill would ban the sale of new large trucks with diesel engines after 2036 and would prohibit trucking companies that transport goods between the state’s ports and distribution centers from registering new diesel vehicles in the state.
CARB’s action is expected to have a dramatic impact on the American economy because zero-emission truck technology, which is still developing, is expensive and will impose additional costs on consumers who purchase goods entering the United States through California ports, trucking industry experts previously explained to DCNF. California’s 12 ports handle approximately 40 percent of containers imported into the United States and 30 percent of U.S. ocean container exports. according to to the California Legislative Analyst’s Office.
CARB also has significant waiver requests that the EPA has yet to rule on, including a rule that would ban the use of locomotives more than 23 years old from their date of manufacture unless they operate using zero-emissions technology. Opponents say that, like the trucking rule, the locomotive proposal would have a significant impact across the U.S. economy because the costs of transforming the rail system with technology that is not currently commercially viable would ripple across state lines.
A coalition of more than 60 industry groups, including the National Association of Manufacturers, the Brewers Institute and the Aluminum Association, produced the report in April. letter We outlined our concerns about CARB’s proposal and urged the EPA to deny the waiver request.
“This CARB regulation has the potential to cause significant disruptions to supply chains across all sectors of the U.S. economy, especially manufacturers and shippers who depend on stable, reliable rail service,” the letter states. “This rule could lead to delays for businesses and increased costs for shippers and consumers, ultimately leading to a major supply chain crisis. If railroads are forced to spend significant amounts of money to ensure compliance with this rule, those costs could be passed along the entire supply chain, disrupting rail service not only in California, but at facilities across the country.”
“The problem is that no practical technology currently exists that can transport cargo outside the yard with zero emissions,” the letter continues. [research and development] Despite innovation and significant private investment in the rail sector, the technology does not currently exist to make this rule possible.”
An EPA spokesperson told DCNF that the agency has no timetable for a decision on this or any other outstanding waiver applications. Meanwhile, CARB is awaiting responses from the federal government on the pending waiver applications, the CARB spokesperson said.
“The staff who actually write CARB’s regulations are often more passionate and ideologically motivated than the politically appointed director, and they’re trying to put California at the forefront of these issues not just in the U.S. but in the world,” Edward Ring, director of water and energy policy at the California Policy Institute, told DCNF. “They’re true believers.”
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