California’s Advanced Clean Cars II regulations receive EPA approval
On December 17th, the Environmental Protection Agency granted a waiver to the California Air Resources Board (CARB) authorizing the enforcement of its Advanced Clean Cars II (ACC II) regulations. The controversial regulatory framework aims to phase out the sale of conventional internal combustion vehicles by 2035, and eleven other states have adopted California’s aggressive approach. The ACC II regulations build upon the original Advanced Clean Cars program, which was adopted in 2012 and is scheduled to sunset at the end of the 2025 model year. Accelerating the proliferation of electric vehicles has been a major environmental goal of the Biden administration, and the EPA’s decision to grant the waiver was widely expected.
The Clean Air Act prohibits individual states from enacting their own emission standards, vesting that authority with the EPA, but section 209 provides a special exception for California. The unusual waiver provision was created to help California cope with its extraordinary air quality challenges, and a separate provision allows other states to follow suit. As long as California’s rules meet the conditions laid out in section 209, they cannot be preempted by the federal rules. The EPA determines whether or not the waiver conditions have been met after completing a formal rulemaking process. Once the waiver of preemption has been granted, section 177 allows other states to adopt California’s regulatory framework, but it must be enacted in its entirety.
The CARB likes to claim that its ACC II regulations will transition the state to100% zero emission vehicles (ZEVs) by 2035, but the terminology is very misleading and finds its way into most media reports. The imprecise “zero emission vehicles” phrase is commonly used to identify battery electric vehicles (BEVs), fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs), and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs). The collective expression implies that all three powertrains do not produce tailpipe emissions, but that is not the case with PHEVs, which rely heavily on hybridized internal combustion engines. The ACC II regulations require all automakers to sell fleets made up of an increasing percentage of advanced clean cars, with the minimum allowable percentage rising from 35% in Model Year 2026 to 100% in Model Year 2035. Gas-burning PHEVs can be used to satisfy 20% of each year’s advanced clean car quota. When all is said and done in 2035, ACC II’s mandatory ZEV quota will stand at 80%, not 100%.
Automakers have consistently lobbied for a single regulatory framework governing tailpipe emissions that is enforced uniformly across all fifty states, but that would require thoughtful new federal legislation. In a December 18th press release addressing the EPA’s waiver announcement, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation reiterated its call for uniform national standards. The powerful trade group also expressed misgivings about mandatory electric vehicle quotas that are not aligned with consumer trends, and is especially concerned that the states volunteering to adopt California’s regulations are not prepared to achieve such ambitious sales targets.
The ACC II regulations are sure to face formidable legal challenges, but the EPA’s eleventh hour waiver approval represents another important victory for the Biden administration. A lot of environmental progress has been made in just four years, and the Golden State’s forceful leadership has helped advance the national effort.