By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON, Nov 4 (Reuters) – Senate Majority Leader John Thune and other senior Republicans on Wednesday asked a US appeals court to overturn a ruling that found the Environmental Protection Agency improperly sent landmark California vehicle emissions rules to lawmakers for potential repeal.
The EPA previously granted California waivers under the Clean Air Act to enact its own emission standards for cars and trucks as well as lawn-and-garden equipment. The EPA sent those waivers to Congress in June for potential repeal but a US district court judge found the EPA action likely unlawful.
US District Judge Beryl Howell in August said the EPA had urged the court to “engage in Orwellian doublethink” in seeking approval and arguing the agency ignored serious inconsistencies. “Such gamesmanship may seem like a clever policy move, but undermines honest compliance with the law,” Howell wrote.
The senators, including Republicans John Barrasso, Tom Cotton and Shelley Moore Capito, said Howell “did not merely usurp Congress’s authority to administer its internal rules – the court brazenly did so in the face of an express statutory restriction.”
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.
Republican lawmakers in August introduced measures to repeal the California rules under the Congressional Review Act following the EPA referrals. Consideration under the CRA allows repeal by a simple majority vote rather than the 60 votes needed for most legislation.
The Senate had been expected to vote on some of the four California rules in September but did not and has effectively run out of time under parliamentary rules, officials say.
The Trump administration has mounted a multi-pronged effort to deny California the ability to require more electric and other fuel-efficient vehicles. Washington has enacted rules making it easier for automakers to sell more gas-powered cars and trucks and more expensive to buy EVs.
Repealing the rules would have barred California indefinitely from regulating tailpipe emissions and a future Democratic president would be unable to easily reinstate the state’s regulatory powers.
Last year, Congress rescinded authority for California to outlaw gas-powered vehicles after 2035 after Toyota, General Motors and other automakers lobbied for relief from state emissions regulations.
The action came after the EPA sent the waivers to Congress for repeal. A separate legal challenge on that action is pending.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; editing by Lincoln Feast.)
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