FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
22 February 2024
Contact: Kevin McGuire, 202-538-2386 (mobile)
WASHINGTON, D.C.– Representatives Barragán (CA-44), Matsui (CA-07), and DeSaulnier (CA-10) and Senators Padilla (D-CA) and Butler (D-CA), led 23 members of the California Congressional Delegation in a letter to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Regan, urging EPA to prioritize the approval of pending California Clean Air Act waiver requests. California has the sole authority to establish more protective air quality regulations than the federal government. There are currently 7 California clean air rules pending EPA authorization before they can move forward. These rules cover clean fleets, clean cars, locomotives, port harbor craft, and more.
California Members wrote, “In the United States, transportation is the leading source of greenhouse gas emissions and a large source of air pollution, worsening the climate crisis and harming the public health of our communities. Under the Clean Air Act, Congress granted California permission to adopt state standards that are more protective than federal standards given the compelling and extraordinary air quality conditions affecting California residents. The waiver provision also allows California to innovate advanced solutions to address emissions from the transportation sector.”
According to stakeholders’ analysis of California Air Resource Board data, these rules could save nearly 9,000 lives and over $75 billion in health benefits in California, and help the U.S. meet its climate goals. In addition, the Clean Air Act allows other states to adopt California’s motor vehicle standards for sources of pollution, which means the adoption of these waivers has important implications for the Biden Administration’s climate and environmental justice goals.
Representatives Barragán, Matsui, DeSaulnier and Senators Butler and Padilla were joined on the letter by Representatives Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.-33), Julia Brownley (D-Calif.-26), Tony Cárdenas (D-Calif.-29), Judy Chu (D-Calif.-28), Robert Garcia (D-Calif.-42), Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.-34), Jared Huffman (D-Calif.-2),Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Calif.-30), Barbara Lee (D-Calif.-12), Mike Levin (D-Calif.-49) ,Ted Lieu (D-Calif.-36), Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.-18), Kevin Mullin (D-Calif.-11), Katie Porter (D-Calif.-47), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.-30), Mark Takano (D-Calif.-39), Juan Vargas (D-Calif.-52), John Garamendi (D-Calif.-8), Linda Sánchez (D-Calif.38), Tony Cárdenas (D-Calif.-29), Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.-14), Mike Thompson (D-Calif.-4), Raul Ruiz (D-Calif.-25), and Maxine Waters (D-Calif.-43).
Full text of the letter is available here and below:
The Honorable Michael Regan
Administrator
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 2004
Dear Administrator Regan:
We write to urge the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to allocate resources to ensure the prompt resolution and approval of California waiver and authorization requests pending before the Agency. Specifically, we call on EPA to quickly issue final decisions to approve the pending requests for the following California rules:
- In-Use Locomotive Regulation;
- Advanced Clean Fleets Regulation;
- 2016 and 2022 Amendments to the Small Off-Road Engine regulations;
- 2022 Amendments to the Commercial Harbor Craft Regulation;
- Advanced Clean Cars II Regulations;
- 2022 Amendments to the Transportation Refrigeration Unit Regulation; and
- 2022 Amendments to the In-Use Off-Road Diesel-Fueled Fleets Regulation
Acknowledging that some of these requests have only recently been submitted to EPA, we nonetheless ask EPA to prioritize their review and expeditiously grant the full and unconditional waivers. We appreciate that EPA has listened to communities and has already taken significant actions to improve California air quality by issuing an authorization for California’s OceanGoing Vessels At-Berth rule and a final rule related to locomotive preemption. Despite these vital steps, EPA has critical work to complete, especially for the transportation and goods movement sectors.
In the United States, transportation is the leading source of greenhouse gas emissions and a large source of air pollution, worsening the climate crisis and harming the public health of our communities. Under the Clean Air Act, Congress granted California permission to adopt state standards that are more protective than federal standards given the compelling and extraordinary air quality conditions affecting California residents. The waiver provision also allows California to innovate advanced solutions to address emissions from the transportation sector. According to stakeholders’ analysis of California Air Resource Board data, the California regulations that need EPA authorization to move forward could save nearly 9,000 lives and over $75 billion in health benefits.
Once EPA grants a waiver, other states may adopt these protective standards as well. Therefore, approval of these outstanding requests is critical not only for the health of California residents, but for the ability of other states to adopt these life-saving measures to reduce pollution and address the climate crisis.
We strongly urge EPA to take the necessary steps to accelerate these requests. Thank you for your consideration of our request.
Sincerely,
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