Biden EPA Approves Waiver For California’s 2035 Gas-Powered Vehicle Ban

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), on orders from the Biden administration, announced on Wednesday that they have approved California’s mandate to ban the sale of all gas-powered vehicles by 2035, making it more difficult for President-elect Donald Trump to federally stop the mandate during his upcoming term.

Since California Governor Gavin Newsom first signed the executive order in September 2020 to make all passenger cars zero emission by 2035, the new policy has been in a somewhat gray area politically. While the policy facilitated other states to issue similar laws, it soon faced something that Californian-led policies rarely receive – contraction. Some states left the 2035 gas-powered car ban policy, such as Virginia earlier this year. Others reacted more strongly, like Wyoming, which is currently trying to ban the sale of all electric car sales in the state by 2035.

For California, the 2035 situation is also growing less and less ideal as the sale of all-electric cars has stagnated in the past year. Currently, around 21.4% of all cars sold in the state are electric – with the figure remaining unchanged from last year. California is also likely to miss their electric vehicle sales goal of 35% by 2026, meaning that the state may have to delay the original 2035 end date or change it up to include the far more popular hybrid vehicles. Newsom and other California lawmakers are also feeling increased pressure to do something about it thanks to the declining sales.

Last month, Governor Newsom, faced with president-elect Donald Trump saying he would end the federal EV rebate that would result in reducing the number of electric cars sold in California even more, announced that he would be bringing back state rebates to electric cars. While the backlash against that announcement was swift, he has stood firm on the decision so far. More worrying for Newsom, the action also showed that Trump would be willing to fight back against EV policies across the country. And since the EPA under Trump was actively going after the 2035 policy in California legally until Biden was sworn into office in early 2021, it sparked further fears that Trump would attempt a federal action halting state gas-powered car sales bans.

“I will end the electric vehicle mandate on day one,” said Trump at the RNC earlier this year in Milwaukee. “This move would result in saving the U.S. auto industry from complete obliteration.”

Federal approval of the 2035 mandate

The willingness of both Biden and Newsom to “Trump-Proof” certain policies before he takes office in January only grew this month. Last week, reports came out that the EPA would be approving California’s 2035 mandate, with the EPA remaining non-committal when asked. This led to Wednesday when the EPA, with backing from the Biden Administration, finally approved the mandate with only about a month until Trump’s inauguration. According to the EPA, they will allow California to require that 35% of all cars sold in the state in 2026 to be zero-emissions, 68% in 2030 and 100% in 2035. The also approved the state’s nitrogen oxide rule, which aims to cut nitrogen oxide from vehicles by 90%.

“California has longstanding authority to request waivers from EPA to protect its residents from dangerous air pollution coming from mobile sources like cars and trucks,” said EPA Administrator Michael Regan on Wednesday. “Today’s actions follow through on EPA’s commitment to partner with states to reduce emissions and act on the threat of climate change.”

Governor Newsom, who had been in support of federal government backing for one of his most notable pet mandates for years, added that “Clean cars are here to stay. The Biden-Harris Administration reaffirmed what we’ve known for decades – California can rise to the challenge of protecting our people by cleaning our air and cutting pollution.

“With more makes and models available than ever before, millions of Californians have already made the switch to clean cars. Automakers and manufacturers have made it clear they intend to stick with California and consumers as we move toward clean cars that save people money. Naysayers like President-elect Trump would prefer to side with the oil industry over consumers and American automakers, but California will continue fostering new innovations in the market.”

While the federal waiver will make it harder for the incoming Trump administration to stop the 2035 mandate from happening, it didn’t change their stance on Wednesday. Many automotive and consumer groups also continued to back the mandate ban, citing low consumer demand and companies not being ready for such a change.

“We expect the Trump administration to still revoke the waiver next year, as California’s vehicle rules will depress economic activity, increase costs and limit vehicle choice and will require automakers to sell fewer vehicles in the 12 states to comply,” the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a trade group of multiple automakers, said on Wednesday. “Most of the states that follow California are not ready for these requirements. Achieving the sales mandates under current market realities will take a miracle. There needs to be balance and some states should exit the program.”

Veronica Deer, an auto industry analyst who focuses on the electric market, added in a Globe interview that “This definitely adds another hurdle for Trump to block the mandate, but it is still very likely that he’ll do it. The majority of Californians don’t like the mandate, plus Trump doesn’t want the rule in place. So ending it is a win-win for him.

“If Newsom wasn’t so greedy and instead focused on, say, only a partial mandate or focused more on hybrids, then we may not be in this predicament. Electric cars are the future, but we are just not ready for them to that sort of extent. If the mandate was, say, 50% of cars need to by hybrids by 2035, that’s something consumers and car makers could get behind. Hell, Trump could have been on board with that if the automakers were.

“Expect Trump to fight back on this early next year, with a ban likely by the end of Newsom’s term in 2026.”

Trump’s response to the EPA’s mandate ruling is expected soon.