On Thursday, September 3, NEFI joined 75 other organizations on a letter to congressional leadership urging Congress to disapprove six Clean Air Act waivers that EPA has granted California. The Clean Air Act lets California set its own vehicle and engine standards when EPA grants a waiver, and other states may then adopt California's rules in place of the federal ones. The Congressional Review Act, or CRA, lets Congress undo a federal rule by simple majority within a set window after the agency submits it. EPA transmitted four of these waivers on June 12 and two more on July 22.

The six waivers are Advanced Clean Cars I and its reinstatement, the Small Off-Road Engine amendments, the Greenhouse Gas Emissions waiver, the Commercial Harbor Craft rule, and the Ocean-Going Vessels at Berth rule. The letter states that these waivers authorize California to restrict, and in the case of small off-road engines, to ban the use of internal combustion engines, and it asks Congress to finish what it started with the 2025 resolutions on Advanced Clean Cars II, Advanced Clean Trucks, and the Omnibus Low NOx rule.

The Small Off-Road Engine rule covers the portable generators, pumps, and pressure washers on service trucks. The Harbor Craft rule applies to the tugs and barges that bring product into Northeast harbors. No resolution has been scheduled for a floor vote in either chamber, and the House leaves Thursday for the election. We will report when either chamber moves.

Read the full comments here.