EPA Appeals Calif. EV Waiver Ruling

LINCOLN, Neb. (DTN) -- The Trump administration is appealing a federal court ruling that effectively allows California to continue to pursue a state electric-vehicle mandate that could drive adoption of such a mandate nationwide.

A federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia blocked a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency effort to reclassify several California Clean Air Act waivers as Congressional Review Act rules.

On Sept. 2, 2026, the district court granted California's request for a preliminary injunction, denied EPA's motion to dismiss and ordered the agency to restore waivers to their prior status rather than treating them as CRA rules.

EPA appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Sept. 14, 2026, asking the court to overturn the district court.

California has special authority in the Clean Air Act to establish vehicle emissions standards that are stricter than federal requirements. The EPA has historically granted the state waivers to allow those standards to take effect.

The state has used a waiver from the previous administration to establish its advanced clean cars program and zero-emission vehicles requirements. The district court ruled that the waivers were orders and not rules. The EPA under the Trump administration reclassified the California waivers and sent them to Congress under the Congressional Review Act. Congress then passed resolutions disapproving those waivers, and they were signed by President Donald Trump.

The district court held that the California lawsuit against EPA was reviewable by courts despite Trump administration arguments that the CRA blocks judicial review, that California had standing to sue, that EPA's reclassifications constituted final agency action and that California was likely to succeed on the merits.

The EPA appeal may be significant because it could determine whether California keeps broad authority to drive emissions policy that often influences national markets.

The district court said in its ruling that California's standards are followed by 17 other states and the District of Columbia.

"At stake in this case is purposeful agency action to tell Congress one thing while operating differently elsewhere," the district court said in its ruling.

If EPA wins on appeal, Congress could have a much easier path to overturning California waivers.

In May 2025, the U.S. Senate passed three Congressional Review Act resolutions disapproving California's vehicle emissions waivers.

In 2022, California regulators announced a plan to ban the sale of gasoline-powered vehicles in the state by 2035. That move set the stage for moving to all-electric vehicles.

The Biden administration's granting of the waivers was challenged in a 2022 lawsuit by attorneys general in 17 states and agricultural interest groups.

In a brief filed by 17 states in October 2022, they said the actions taken by California and the Biden administration had already led to other states adopting California's approach.

In 2005, for the first time, California sought a waiver from the EPA to establish its own emission standards, not for local pollutants but for greenhouse gases the state determined contribute to global climate change.

EPA denied the waiver in 2008 and concluded that the Clean Air Act did not authorize California to tackle "diffuse national and international problems," according to the AG's brief.

With a change in administrations, EPA granted California another waiver in 2013. That was withdrawn by EPA in 2019.

Read more on DTN:

"Ag, States Challenge EPA Action on EVs," https://www.dtnpf.com/…

Todd Neeley can be reached at todd.neeley@dtn.com

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