Overview
- The House Energy and Commerce Committee issued a subpoena to California Air Resources Board Chair Lauren Sanchez seeking documents and emails tied to rules that would end sales of new gas-powered cars in 2035.
- Chairman Brett Guthrie alleged CARB withheld vehicle approvals unless automakers honored rules he says Congress voided through review resolutions, while CARB said it has shared records and wants a cooperative process.
- The subpoena seeks communications with the California governor’s and attorney general’s offices about how the state developed and enforced its vehicle emissions program.
- The Justice Department recently sued California over what it calls an illegal EV mandate and, along with NHTSA officials, argues state-specific rules create a costly patchwork for carmakers and buyers.
- Under the Clean Air Act, California can seek EPA waivers to set stricter standards, a process that enabled its Advanced Clean Cars II plan requiring all new car sales to be zero-emission by 2035 and that more than a dozen states adopted; lawsuits over federal revocations of those waivers are pending in the Ninth Circuit.