Republican bill would limit California pollution waivers

A California Republican wants to make it more difficult for the Golden State to impose stricter pollution standards for vehicles and other equipment.

The Protect America from CARB Act, H.R. 10154, from Rep. James Gallagher, would require California to receive approval from EPA and the departments of Agriculture, Energy, Interior and Transportation to obtain federal Clean Air Act waivers. Right now, California needs only to receive permission from EPA to impose stricter emissions standards on vehicles and other engines compared to the federal standard.

“People in the North State are already paying too much for just about everything and the last thing they need is another costly mandate coming out of Sacramento,” Gallagher said in a statement to POLITICO, which was first to obtain a copy of the legislation. “My bill puts some common sense into the process so we can protect our environment without making it even harder for California families to afford to live and work here.”

Gallagher’s bill is the latest in an onslaught of GOP attacks against the environmental standards for vehicles set by the California Air Resources Board. The lawmakers have been bolstered by the Trump administration’s appetite to crack down on California's programs.

Republican lawmakers in both the House and the Senate have in past months introduced a flurry of Congressional Review Act resolutions that would undo past EPA approvals of such California standards. They muscled through a series of similar CRA resolutions last summer.

But Gallagher’s bill goes further than the CRA resolutions by changing the process through which California can receive waivers in the future. Gallagher’s office said the legislation would add the extra agency reviews to California programs aimed at curbing emissions for motor vehicles and non-road engines and equipment.

California is in the process of suing EPA for sending Clean Air Act waivers to Congress as rules to repeal. CARB, too, has pushed back on the congressional moves against California, with then-chair Liane Randolph last year calling CRA votes on the waivers "unconstitutional, illegal and foolish." CARB did not respond to request for comment on the latest bill.

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