The ATA celebrates a “monumental victory” as Congress torpedoes CARB’s clean-truck rules.
UPDATED: President Donald Trump on June 12 signed Congressional resolutions that revoked the Environmental Protection Agency waiver for three California vehicle emissions rules. Hours later, California said it’s doubling down on its efforts to transition away from fossil fuels.
Last month, Congress passed a Congressional Review Act measure to block California from implementing the Advanced Clean Cars II regulation, Advanced Clean Trucks regulation, and the Heavy-Duty Low-NOx Omnibus rule.
At the time, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the state would file a lawsuit, saying the waiver revocations are a move that will “Make America Smoggy Again.” He made good on that promise on June 12, as the state filed a lawsuit challenging what it said are “illegal resolutions targeting California’s clean vehicles program.”
Trucking’s Reaction to Trump Signing the Resolutions
A group from the American Trucking Associations took part in the signing ceremony at the White House, including three professional truck drivers from America’s Road Team. One of them, Werner driver Gina Jones, was invited to the podium by President Trump to deliver remarks.
“We cannot allow one state’s regulations to disrupt our entire nation’s supply chain,” said Jones. “Allowing California to do so would have negatively impacted the hundreds of thousands of truck drivers who deliver critical goods across the country each and every day.”
Other trucking groups quickly released statements praising the action, including National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) and American Truck Dealers (ATD); and the Transport Project, which supports renewable natural gas.
Environmental groups criticized the measure, saying it runs counter to the Clean Air Act provision allowing California to set its own pollution rules.
Remember the Clean Truck Partnership?
California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order doubling down on the state’s clean-air efforts. The state will begin work on the next phase of the state’s clean vehicles program and steers state vehicle purchases to manufacturers that continue to comply with the state’s clean vehicle regulations.
The executive order points out that in 2023, the California Air Resources Board reached an agreement with truck makers, the Clean Truck Partnership, under which truck manufacturers agreed to commit to meeting California’s zero-emission and criteria pollutant regulations in the state regardless of any attempts by other entities to challenge California’s authority.
Truck makers did this in exchange for California’s commitment to work collaboratively with manufacturers to provide lead time to meet specific regulatory requirements before imposing new ones.
The executive order continues the Clean Truck Partnership work and requires reports on progress every six months.
It also directs state agencies to assess additional actions for zero-emission vehicle adoption and issue recommendations within 60 days.
Can Congress Revoke EPA Waivers? California Says No.
[Previous coverage] On May 22, the U.S. Senate followed the House of Representatives in passing a Congressional Review Act measure to block California from implementing the Advanced Clean Cars II regulation, Advanced Clean Trucks regulation, and the Heavy-Duty Low-NOx Omnibus rule, with an unprecedented use of the Congressional Review Act.
The Senate voted 51-45 to revoke California’s ban on new diesel trucks and 49-46 to revoke its expensive heavy-duty Omnibus Low NOx regulations. The House of Representatives had previously passed its companion proposals.
Advanced Clean Trucks, which has been adopted by 11 states, requires medium- and heavy-duty truck manufacturers to sell increasing percentages of zero-emission vehicles from 2024-2035.
The Low NOx Omnibus rule, which has been adopted by 10 states, imposes stringent emissions standards on new truck sales.
The California Resources Board withdrew its waiver application for another program, the Advanced Clean Fleets rules, early this year.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom said the state will file a legal challenge, alleging the “reckless misuse of the Congressional Review Act is unlawful.”
Photo: Gov. Newsom’s office
How Did Congress Revoke CARB’s EPA Waivers?
California was given the authority to set its own vehicle pollution standards as part of the Clean Air Act more than 50 years ago, subject to a waiver from the Environmental Protection Agency.
The EPA granted the waiver for the low-NOx rule late in 2024. Advanced Clean Trucks was approved in 2023.
Since 1970 when then-Governor Ronald Reagan requested the waiver authority, air quality has improved significantly even as the state’s population doubled and the number of vehicles on California’s roads tripled, said Calstart in a statement. President Nixon signed the law granting California this authority.
The Congressional Review Act passed in 1996 requires agencies to report the issuance of “rules” to Congress and gives Congress procedures to overturn those rules.
But EPA waivers had never previously been considered a “rule” subject to the CRA.
The Trump administration decided differently and earlier this year submitted the waivers as “rules” to Congress for review – even though one of them had already been in effect since 2023.
The Senate Parliamentarian and the Government Accountability Office had both held that these waivers could not be revoked by a fast-tracked CRA vote.
Nevertheless, the House of Representatives passed the resolutions a few weeks ago and sent them on to the Senate.
Democratic leaders in a letter to Senate leadership said the Senate’s action means “the CRA could be weaponized to retroactively invalidate decades of agency actions — including adjudications, permits, and licensing decisions that were never previously considered ‘rules’ — and effectively hijack the Senate floor.”
ATA: ‘Monumental Victory’
The American Trucking Associations cheered the move, calling it a “monumental victory for the trucking industry, common sense, and consumers everywhere.”
“Both mandates are untethered from reality and would have been extraordinarily costly to fully implement,” ATA said. “Even states that adopted the standards are acknowledging reality by scaling back and delaying implementation.”
Trucks today produce 99% fewer nitrogen oxide (NOx) and particulate matter emissions than those on the road decades ago, and new trucks cut carbon emissions by over 40 percent compared to a truck manufactured in 2010. As a result, 60 of today’s trucks emit what just one truck did in 1988.
Pulling back California’s electric truck mandate allows for development of emissions-reduction technologies that best suit different types of operations, such as Cummins’ new fuel-agnostic engine platform and a tightly integrated powertrain that is more efficient.
More Reactions from Trucking Groups
The Truckload Carriers Association issued a statement praising the repeal of the waivers.
“As a major issue during TCA’s 2024 Call-on-Washington, we emphasized the very notion that these rules would have been crippling to our nation’s supply chain and an obstacle to an industry that thrives on delivering a nation,” said David Heller, senior VP of Safety and Government Affairs.
“Setting national policy is the responsibility of Congress, not California,” said Todd Spencer, president of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, in a statement.
“It’s no wonder small-business truckers have left the state in droves to find better opportunities elsewhere. For OOIDA members, vehicle reliability and affordability are critical. So far, there is no convincing evidence that electric commercial motor vehicles are a viable option for small-business truckers given the high costs and inadequate charging infrastructure.
“Additionally, CARB’s overreaching Omnibus NOx rules have already raised prices on new vehicles and increased maintenance costs for trucks currently on the road.”
American Truck Dealers President Jacqueline Gelb said in a statement:
“California’s onerous regulations have upended the trucking industry in CARB states through rationing of diesel trucks and forcing adoption of zero-emission technologies that don’t meet the performance and durability requirements for the industry.
“The industry has made great strides toward cleaner emissions, and without these mandates, it will continue to develop new technologies that reduce emissions and support the movement of our nation’s freight.”
CARB: ‘Unconstitutional, Illegal, and Foolish’
On the other hand, environmental and clean-transportation groups criticized the action.
The California Air Resources Board, of course, hit back with a critical statement.
“California profoundly disagrees with today’s unconstitutional, illegal and foolish vote attempting to undermine critical clean air protections,” said CARB Chair Liane Randolph in a statement.
“It’s an assault on states’ rights the federal administration claims to support that puts national air quality standards out of reach and will have devastating effects for the 150 million Americans who breathe unhealthy air every day.
Truck makers continue to roll out new electric vehicles, such as Peterbilt’s new Model 567e.
“This short-sighted political move is another strike against the long-term competitiveness of the U.S. auto industry in a global market that is rapidly advancing toward cleaner combustion technology as well as zero-emission vehicles. These actions throw uncertainty into the middle of an ongoing vehicle certification process.
“Despite the market disruption brought on by the federal government, California remains steadfast in our commitment to work with manufacturers to keep moving toward a cleaner transportation system, and we will have more guidance in the coming days.”
Environmental Defense Fund General Counsel Vickie Patton accused EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin of abusing his authority in “summarily reclassifying California’s preemption waivers.
“It was done without public notice or opportunity for public input,” Patton said in a statement. “It was part of an end run around full Congressional debate and consideration. It is flatly inconsistent with dozens of decisions by EPA administrators across Republican and Democratic administrations alike.”
Does Killing CARB Waivers Reduce U.S. Competitiveness in Clean Transportation?
“In a massive handout to special interests, the Senate today took a radical action that creates enormous policy uncertainty for the entire transportation industry,” said John Boesel, president and CEO of Calstart, an industry organization focused on transportation decarbonization, in a statement.
“This move concedes the industries of the future to global competitors, will increase air pollution, accelerate global warming and result in significant job loss,” he said.
“This vote upends decades of policy that has successfully resulted in cleaner air and the growth of a robust clean transportation industry. It is a brazen, yet futile, attempt to bring the clean transportation industry to a sudden halt. Calstart will continue to partner with the states working to fill this gaping void left by today’s federal action.”
Craig Segall, who was a lead author of the Advanced Clean Truck rules when he was with CARB, was critical of truck manufacturers that lobbied for the federal government to do something about what were seen as California’s unrealistic rules.
Overturning clean truck regulations, he contended, locks the freight industry into dependence on high diesel prices and rising truck maintenance costs, while blocking access to innovation other countries like China are already adopting.
“Truck manufacturers had a chance to stand up for the transition they claim to support,” he said in a statement shared with HDT. “Instead they blew it up and salted the earth.”
Will Truck Makers Pull Back on Zero-Emission Truck Development?
Truck makers today are increasingly global and aren’t just going to push a button and stop development on zero-emission truck research and development. For companies such as Volvo, protecting the environment is a core value.
But it had become evident in the time since California’s rules were written that factors such as charging infrastructure and limited range meant CARB’s electric-truck mandate just wasn’t going to work for a large part of the trucking industry.
Manufacturers and the trucking industry called for an emissions-reduction approach that didn’t limit solutions to only electric trucks, including internal-combustion engines running on alternative fuels such as renewable natural gas and renewable diesel — perhaps even hydrogen.
The recent ACT Expo event featured a number of new electric truck models on the show floor, such as the International eRH.
“We have big investments in these new technologies,” said Catharina Modahl Nilsson, head of group product management for International Motors parent company Traton, in a recent interview with HDT.
Traton’s global R&D organization has developed a modular vehicle architecture that allows it to pick and choose electric powertrains and other technologies for customers around the globe.
“Which is why we do not worry about the pace of technologies in one country or another,” Nilsson said. “We are well-positioned to meet our customer needs regardless of where they are.”
What About the States Piggybacking on CARB Rules?
The Clean Air Act also allows other states to choose to adopt California’s standards. A number of states had passed legislation adopting these regulations.
Except for California, every state scheduled to adopt California’s rules in 2025-26 has delayed them to 2027, modified them, or is actively considering similar actions, according to the Safe Roads Coalition, a group of towing and recovery truck businesses that has been against the clean-truck mandates. The remaining ACT states have an adoption date of 2027.
One of those piggyback states is New York. The Trucking Association of New York (TANY) issues a statement applauding the Senate’s action, saying it “eliminates the authority for New York’s continued implementation of mandates that are both economically and
“We hope that New York will use this as an opportunity to engage with stakeholders to develop a truly balanced approach to reducing transportation related emissions that are achievable and won’t create undue burdens on the trucking industry,” it said in that statement.
“The trucking industry is making great strides in reducing our carbon footprint, and we are committed to doing much more as technology continues to improve.”
Updated 4/23/2025 to add comments and information from OOIDA, ACT author Craig Segall, and analysis regarding truck maker investments in clean trucks.
Updated 5/22 to add House action on resolutions.
Updated 6/12 to add Trump signing and California lawsuit
