Last-minute pollution waivers

Biden administration grants California last-minute pollution waivers

The EPA has just over two weeks to grant the state’s remaining requests to regulate trains and trucks.

By Blanca Begert

The Biden administration granted California permission Friday to enforce its zero-emission rules for lawn mowers and leaf blowers, a longtime object of Republican ire and a likely target of the Trump administration.

Besides approving California’s rule outlawing the sale of small gas- and diesel-powered engines, EPA also granted waivers Friday for emissions rules for refrigerated trucks and off-road vehicles like mining trucks and bulldozers.

The moves are some of President Joe Biden’s last attempts to safeguard California’s progressive climate policies from President-elect Donald Trump a little over two weeks before he takes office with a promise to dismantle the state’s regulations.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s approval of the waivers — which grant California the authority to set stricter-than-federal emissions regulations under the Clean Air Act — gives the state’s nation-leading rules an extra layer of protection from Trump and his allies. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) pledged Friday that the Republican-led House would prioritize ending electric vehicle policies and other Democratic climate efforts.

California officials have been calling for Biden’s EPA to grant waivers for eight of its rules for over a year. Friday’s decisions come on the heels of two other waivers EPA issued in December covering the state’s tailpipe pollution rules for cars and trucks.

State officials welcomed the new waivers. “U.S. EPA’s decision again recognizes California’s right under the Clean Air Act to take action to address its compelling and extraordinary air quality challenges and protect the health of its residents,” California Air Resources Board spokesperson Dave Clegern said in an email.

The small off-road engine rule that requires sales of spark-ignition engines like leaf blowers, lawn mowers and portable generators to be zero-emissions starting last year has been a longtime target of congressional Republicans. In 2023 they tried to block EPA from using funds to approve a waiver request for the rule, which state regulators approved in 2021.

The off-road diesel fleet rule starts phasing out the oldest and highest-emitting heavy-duty engines from operation starting in 2024.

The transport refrigeration unit rule approved Friday requires trucks, trailers, railcars and shipping containers to use lower-emitting refrigerants and requires non-truck units to meet stricter particulate matter standards. The waiver was only partially granted as the EPA did not act on a piece of the rule requiring diesel fleets to turn over at least 15 percent of their trucks to zero emissions each year.

California is still waiting on three more waivers for some of its more controversial rules that have already been hit with industry lawsuits. It’s currently unable to enforce the Advanced Clean Fleet rule, its zero-emission truck purchasing mandate that was supposed to take effect starting as early as last year for fleets at the state’s ports.

It’s also waiting on waivers for its emissions rule for ferries and tugboats, and its rule for zero-emissions locomotives, which is facing a legal challenge from the Association of American Railroads.