By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said on Friday it has not made a decision yet on whether to approve California’s landmark plan to end the sale of gasoline-only vehicles by 2035.
A senior California Air Resources Board official told Reuters in October the state expects the EPA to grant a waiver under the Clean Air Act to California to implement its plan to require that at least 80% of new cars sold be electric by 2035 and up to 20% plug-in hybrid models. California’s rules have been adopted by 11 other states including New York, Massachusetts and Oregon.
California has seven other waivers pending with the EPA.
“EPA continues to review California’s waiver requests closely to make sure its decisions are durable and grounded in the law. We have no updates to share on timing,” an EPA spokesperson said.
President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to rescind waivers granted by the EPA to California to require more EVs and tighter vehicle emissions standards.
California’s rules require 35% of vehicles in the 2026 model year to be a zero-emission model, rising to 68% by 2030. The state says the rule is crucial to meeting greenhouse gas emission reduction targets and cutting smog-forming pollutants.
The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a trade group representing General Motors, Volkswagen, Toyota Motor and other automakers, said the “program will depress economic activity, increase costs and limit vehicle choice” and will require automakers to sell fewer vehicles in the 12 states to comply.
“Achieving the mandates will take a miracle. There needs to be balance and some states should exit the program,” the group wrote.
On Friday, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a bid by fuel producers to challenge the waiver California received in 2022 for vehicle emissions rules.
California, the most populous U.S. state, has received more than 75 waivers since 1967, requiring increasingly better emissions performance and EV sales.
The EPA in March 2022 reinstated a waiver for California to set its own tailpipe emissions limits and zero-emission vehicle mandate through 2025, reversing a 2019 decision under Trump’s first administration.
(Reporting by David Shepardson in Washington; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
