President Biden’s EPA is expected to soon reinstate the waiver that allows California and other states to adopt stronger vehicle tailpipe emissions standards than the federal standard, localized authority that was rolled back under the Trump administration.
Seventeen states and the District of Columbia had adopted their own clean car standards, representing more than 40 percent of the U.S. population; and six states had adopted a new advanced electric-truck standard, mostly for commercial fleets, that requires a waiver. That would cover 20 percent of the truck market.
In 2019, the Trump administration rolled back California’s decades-old waiver. Biden’s administration in its early days in the White House said it would start the process of putting the waiver back in place.
The impending announcement was first reported by E&E News, which covers the energy and environmental industries.
An Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) spokesperson confirmed for MarketWatch that the final decision on the waiver is expected soon. “We are working to finalize a decision on the California waiver, and we expect to issue a decision in the near future,” she said.
As for that federal standard, the EPA in December announced that efficiency benchmarks for cars and light trucks would move to 40 miles per gallon by the 2026 model year. That’s a bump up from 38 mpg under an earlier proposal.
Click here to read more from Rachel Koning Beals at MarketWatch.com.