The Biden administration has formally granted California authority to prohibit new gas automobile sales in the state by 2035.
California adopted a severe emissions requirement that would prohibit new gas cars in the state by 2035, but officials needed a waiver from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to carry out the demand.
The EPA stated on Wednesday that it would approve two waivers under the Clean Air Act, allowing California to phase out gas automobiles in the state – one of President Biden’s final moves to push the auto industry into the green energy sector.
One waiver grants California’s near-term request to require that 35% of new automobile and light-duty truck sales be zero-emissions by 2026 and 90% lower current emissions by 2027.
The other EPA waiver enables California officials to require that all new car sales be zero-emissions within a decade – the most stringent EV regulation in the country.
However, President-elect Trump is reportedly preparing to abolish both federal EV standards and any exceptions provided by the Biden administration for California.
“Fresh off imposing his insane, job-killing electric vehicle mandate at the federal level, Crooked Joe Biden is preparing to slaughter the remnants of the U.S. auto-industry by approving California’s waiver request outlawing the sale of all gasoline-powered automobiles,” incoming White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News Digital.
EPA Administrator Michael Regan stated that the waivers will “protect its [California] residents from dangerous air pollution coming from mobile sources like cars and trucks.”