Alex Padilla U.S. Senator for California

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) and Representatives Nanette Barragán (D-Calif.-44), Mark DeSaulnier (D-Calif.-10), and Doris Matsui (D-Calif.-07) led 22 lawmakers in urging the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to accelerate the review and approval of all of California’s outstanding waiver and authorization requests. Amid several pending waiver requests for top-priority California climate and emissions rules, the letter specifically requests waivers for the state’s recent locomotive regulation as well as regulations related to light-duty vehicles, heavy-duty vehicles, and other equipment.

Under the Clean Air Act, Congress granted California the authority to adopt state emissions standards that are more protective than federal standards, given the extraordinary air quality conditions affecting California residents. When the requirements are met, the EPA must then issue a waiver allowing California to enforce more stringent standards, and other states may also opt into these state standards.

According to stakeholders’ analysis of California Air Resource Board data, the California regulations that need EPA authorization to move forward could save nearly 9,000 lives and over $75 billion in health benefits.

“In the United States, transportation is the leading source of greenhouse gas emissions and a large source of air pollution, worsening the climate crisis and harming the public health of our communities,” wrote the lawmakers. “Approval of these outstanding requests is critical not only for the health of California residents, but for the ability of other states to adopt these life-saving measures to reduce pollution and address the climate crisis.”

The EPA previously issued an authorization for California’s Ocean-Going Vessels At-Berth rule and a final rule related to locomotive preemption, both of which Padilla supported. Despite these critical steps, the EPA still has remaining waivers and authorizations to approve for the transportation and goods movement sectors.

In addition to Senator Padilla and Representatives Barragán, DeSaulnier, and Matsui, Senator Laphonza Butler (D-Calif.) and Representatives Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.-33), Julia Brownley (D-Calif.-26), Tony Cárdenas (D-Calif.-29), Judy Chu (D-Calif.-28), Robert Garcia (D-Calif.-42), Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.-34), Jared Huffman (D-Calif.-02), Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Calif.-37), Barbara Lee (D-Calif.-12), Mike Levin (D-Calif.-49), Ted Lieu (D-Calif.-36), Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.-18), Kevin Mullin (D-Calif.-15), Katie Porter (D-Calif.-47), Raul Ruiz (D-Calif.-25), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.-30), Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.-14), Mark Takano (D-Calif.-39), Mike Thompson (D-Calif.-04), Juan Vargas (D-Calif.-52), and Maxine Waters (D-Calif.-43) also signed the letter.

Senator Padilla has consistently fought for emissions reductions in the transportation sector. Last year, he and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) called on the EPA to finalize the strongest possible Phase 3 heavy duty vehicles emissions rule by early 2024, following a bicameral letter he led on the same subject with 80 of his colleagues. Padilla and Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) also led 56 of their colleagues in pushing the EPA to finalize and issue strong vehicle greenhouse gas emission standards for both cars and trucks by the end of last year. Additionally, Padilla led 14 Senators last year in calling on the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation to prioritize the deployment of zero-emission medium- and heavy-duty infrastructure as part of its core mission.

In July of 2022, Padilla and the late Senator Dianne Feinstein led a California delegation letter to the EPA requesting waiver approval for California’s heavy-duty vehicle regulations. He and Feinstein also successfully pushed the Administration to revise emissions standards for heavy-duty trucks, which had previously not been revised in 20 years.

Full text of the letter is available here and below:

Dear Administrator Regan:

We write to urge the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to allocate resources to ensure the prompt resolution and approval of California waiver and authorization requests pending before the Agency. Specifically, we call on EPA to quickly issue final decisions to approve the pending requests for the following California rules:

• In-Use Locomotive Regulation;
• Advanced Clean Fleets Regulation;
• 2016 and 2022 Amendments to the Small Off-Road Engine regulations;
• 2022 Amendments to the Commercial Harbor Craft Regulation;
• Advanced Clean Cars II Regulations;
• 2022 Amendments to the Transportation Refrigeration Unit Regulation; and
• 2022 Amendments to the In-Use Off-Road Diesel-Fueled Fleets Regulation

Acknowledging that some of these requests have only recently been submitted to EPA, we nonetheless ask EPA to prioritize their review and expeditiously grant the full and unconditional waivers. We appreciate that EPA has listened to communities and has already taken significant actions to improve California air quality by issuing an authorization for California’s Ocean-Going Vessels At-Berth rule and a final rule related to locomotive preemption. Despite these vital steps, EPA has critical work to complete, especially for the transportation and goods movement sectors.

In the United States, transportation is the leading source of greenhouse gas emissions and a large source of air pollution, worsening the climate crisis and harming the public health of our communities. Under the Clean Air Act, Congress granted California permission to adopt state standards that are more protective than federal standards given the compelling and extraordinary air quality conditions affecting California residents. The waiver provision also allows California to innovate advanced solutions to address emissions from the transportation sector. According to stakeholders’ analysis of California Air Resource Board data, the California regulations that need EPA authorization to move forward could save nearly 9,000 lives and over $75 billion in health benefits.

Once EPA grants a waiver, other states may adopt these protective standards as well. Therefore, approval of these outstanding requests is critical not only for the health of California residents, but for the ability of other states to adopt these life-saving measures to reduce pollution and address the climate crisis.

We strongly urge EPA to take the necessary steps to accelerate these requests. Thank you for your consideration of our request.

Sincerely,

###