Overview
- EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin transmitted four California Clean Air Act waivers to Congress on Friday, June 12, 2026, which starts the statutory clock that allows lawmakers to try to overturn them under the Congressional Review Act.
- Three waivers cover older light-duty greenhouse gas authorities tied to auto rules dating to 2009 and 2013 and one waiver covers sub-25-horsepower off-highway engines such as lawn mowers and leaf blowers.
- Because previous administrations did not submit these waivers as formal rules, EPA’s filing creates a new procedural route for Congress to nullify them by simple majority, though it is unclear whether Republicans can secure enough votes.
- The move unfolds alongside parallel legal battles: the Justice Department has sued to block California’s zero-emission car standards and California has sued EPA over prior submissions, while industry groups are suing and lobbying against equipment electrification rules they say add roughly $1 billion in costs.
- If Congress repeals the waivers, automakers and the more than a dozen states that adopt California standards could be freed from meeting those greenhouse-gas and equipment mandates, a shift that would reshape compliance costs and the pace of electrification nationwide.