{"id":371390,"date":"2026-06-23T11:54:06","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T11:54:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/371390\/"},"modified":"2026-06-23T11:54:06","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T11:54:06","slug":"california-sues-federal-epa-for-unlawful-interference-with-state-environmental-regulations-jurist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/371390\/","title":{"rendered":"California sues federal EPA for unlawful interference with state environmental regulations – JURIST"},"content":{"rendered":"

The state of California filed a suit<\/a> against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Monday for the federal government\u2019s continued efforts to interefere with the state government\u2019s ability to enforce its state-level emission standards and anti-pollution regulations.<\/p>\n

Last week, the EPA submitted four preemption waivers, granted to California under the Clean Air Act<\/a>, to Congress for reclassification as \u201c\u2018rules\u2019 subject to congressional disapproval,\u201d effectively subjecting them to the Congressional Review Act<\/a> and opening the door for the federal government control of California\u2019s environmental regulations. The present lawsuit is challenging the reclassificaiton of these waivers.<\/p>\n

California asserts that the waivers constitute \u201cfinalized adjudicatory orders\u201d and \u201cnot\u201d rules. According to the complaint, the federal government is attempting to misuse the Administrative Procedure Act<\/a> (APA) by reclassifying the waivers as rules to enable the EPA to administratively revoke the waivers.<\/p>\n

The said waivers were granted has enabled California to enact various laws in the past such as the Greenhouse Gas Emission Standards for cars in 2008 during the Bush Administration, the Advance Clean Cars I (ACC I) rules in 2012, and the amendments to the Small Offroad Engine rules, in its efforts to address severe air pollution and enforce emission standards. Essentially, the waivers permit California (and other states) to adopt more stringent emission regulations than those of the EPA, should it see fit.<\/p>\n

These waivers have been never been considered \u201crules\u201d subject to congressional disapproval in the past although the Trump administration did rescind parts of ACC I, which California enacted utilizing the waivers. Vowing to \u201cvigoruously defend\u201d California\u2019s authority to implement and enforce its environmental laws, Bonta said<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The Trump Administration is doubling down on its unlawful attack on California\u2019s longstanding authority to address air pollution and adopt clean vehicle and equipment standards that protect our State and residents. For fifty years, both Democratic and Republican administrations have agreed that EPA Clean Air Act waivers are not rules, and EPA\u2019s unlawful attempt to reclassify them \u2014 years after the fact \u2014 is an illegal attempt to take down these important tools. These latest illegal actions would mean more pollution, poorer air quality, more market uncertainty, and greater health risks for communities already overburdened by emissions. California will continue to fight against the Trump Administration\u2019s lawless overreach and vigorously defend our authority to protect the health and well-being of our communities and the environment.<\/p>\n

California Air Resources Board Chairperson Lauren Sanchez further accused the federal government of creating chaos, getting \u201ccaught up in short-sighted political fights,\u201d and putting the health of millions of Californians at risk. Sanchez said that Californians will not stand by idly \u2014 \u201cwe will defend our authority, protect public health, and continue working toward a cleaner, healthier future.\u201d<\/p>\n

The complaint notes that EPA has tried this before in 2025, which ultimately resulted in congressional resolutions disapproving three different targeted waivers. In that previous instance, California was joined in a similar suit<\/a> against the federal government by Colorado, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington.<\/p>\n

The present suit is a lone fight launched by California. Among other things, it asks the court to vacate the EPA\u2019s reclassification and submission actions to congress and declare such actions a violation of the APA; declare that the four concerned waivers are not \u201crules\u201d within the meaning of the PA; declare that EPA\u2019s reclassification and submission actions as ultra vires; preliminary enjoin the EPA to withdraw its reclassification and submission actions restoring the status quo that existed before those actions; and permanently enjoin EPA from repeating the reclassification and submission actions with respect to the concernedwaivers and other previously granted waivers.<\/p>\n

California and the federal government have been at loggerheads for quite sometime now specifically over the state\u2019s efforts to regulate pollution within its boundaries. In March, the Justice Department (DOJ) filed a lawsuit<\/a> against the California Air Resources Board (CARB) in an effort to block the state from enforcing carbon dioxide (CO2) and zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) mandates, on the grounds that federal law prohibits state regulation in this area. Last August, the DOJ filed suit<\/a> against California seeking to prevent the state from enforcing its own emission standards for heavy trucks. In July 2022, in what was seen as a direct retort to the US Supreme Court\u2019s refusal to block the Texas \u201cheartbeat\u201d anti-abortion bill that permits lawsuits against anyone who helps a woman seek access to abortion, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a similar bill<\/a> permitting private citizens to bring lawsuits against those who \u201cmake, sell, transport, or import\u201d guns.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The state of California filed a suit against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Monday for the federal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":371391,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8],"class_list":["post-371390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=371390"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371390\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/371391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=371390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=371390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=371390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}