The U.S. Senate, in legislation that Senator Shelley Moore Capito has vigorously supported, voted to reverse a policy that would have allowed California to require a transition to 100% zero-emission vehicles.
The Senate vote effectively blocking a plan by the largest state in America to move toward banning the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035.
Capito is chair of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.
“Under my leadership in particular we took down the California EV — electric vehicle mandate,” Capito, R-W.Va., said during a news briefing with West Virginia reporters.
California had a target of 35% zero-emission vehicle sales by 2026, 68% by 2030, and 100% by 2035.
“Unreasonable, incredibly far-reaching and, I think, very damaging to the economy, very damaging to auto jobs and other jobs all across the country,” Capito said.
“We were able to pull it together. As I said, I led the charge here to pull this down to go forward with the Trump administration for some commonsense regulations that lead us to cleaner air, yes, but also keeps our economy intact and gives consumers choice.”
The prior Biden administration had approved California’s request for a waiver under the Clean Air Act, allowing the state to set its own rules for vehicle emissions.
“There’s no way practical that anybody could reach this far-reaching rule that the Biden administration put forward as they were walking out the door.”
Capito has been on this issue for months.
Last December, the senator issued a statement against the Biden Environmental Protection Agency’s approval of California’s waiver to implement its “Advanced Clean Cars II” regulation. In the statement she pledged to reverse the action by the Biden administration that was about to leave office.
Early last month, Capito introduced the joint resolution with the effect of repealing California’s waiver. There are three separate resolutions under the Congressional Review Act, but Senator Capito’s is the one that would repeal California’s EV mandate (Advanced Clean Cars II).
At the beginning of May, the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation to repeal California’s electric vehicle waivers.
This week, Capito has spoken about the electric vehicle action several times, including during the weekly Senate GOP Leadership Press Conference and again on the Senate floor on Wednesday night after a vote on a motion to proceed.
“Over the past two decades, California has used its waiver authority to push its extreme climate policies on the rest of the country, which was never the intent of the Clean Air Act,” she said on the Senate floor.
The matter seems likely to head for a court fight. California has indicated that it will continue to fight for its electric vehicle mandate and will likely pursue legal challenges to the Senate’s action. Such a lawsuit would contend the Senate votes were an improper use of the Congressional Review Act.
During the briefing with West Virginia reporters, MetroNews asked Capito about her philosophy for determining when it’s appropriate to intervene in the policy of a particular state like California.
“The EV mandate is very unpopular across the country,” she said. “Let’s just frame this: If we lived in a state that would have to abide by the California mandate — which 17 states are included in this EV mandate that California, the level of air pollution that California wants to go to, which would mandate electric vehicles.”
Capito continued, “So you’re in West Virginia and you’re going to go to Canaan Valley and you’re going to go over beautiful Corridor H — and you’re going to have about a three or three and a half hour drive. Where are you going to charge? How are you going to get there? How long is it going to take you to get there? Certain areas it does not work.”