r/law • u/bloomberglaw • 21h ago

Legal News California Defeats Trump EPA in Federal Court over Clean Air Act Waivers

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/environment-and-energy/judge-blocks-epas-move-to-reclassify-californias-air-waivers
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u/bloomberglaw 21h ago

A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to withdraw the EPA’s reclassification of four California Clean Air Act waivers as rules, finding the move is subject to judicial review that is “likely unlawful.”

Judge Beryl Howell of the US District Court for the District of Columbia on Wednesday granted California’s preliminary injunction request and denied motions to dismiss from the Environmental Protection Agency and intervenors. The agency is ordered to “restore the status quo” as it was before the EPA on June 12 announced the waivers’ reclassification as rules.

The decision is a win for California, whose Attorney General, Rob Bonta, sued the EPA in June citing violations of the Administrative Procedure Act. Bonta argued the administration “no doubt” reclassified the waivers hoping Congress would kill them through a procedure known as the Congressional Review Act.

The Trump administration has used the Congressional Review Act to overturn Biden-era regulations from the EPA and other agencies, with lawmakers in 2025 invalidating an EPA waiver that allowed California to require all new passenger vehicles sold be zero emissions by 2035.

Howell called the EPA and its petroleum trade association intervenors’ posture “Orwellian doublethink,” by offering “two explanations simultaneously for what the agency has done.”

Read more in the full story.

-Elliot

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u/dotcubed 13h ago

My perspective and experience is it makes sense individual states are more important than the federal government in making laws that affect their environment.

If we wait for them trying to please everyone the Central Valley and LA air quality would be worse than it is.

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u/Person_756335846 20h ago

It seems like this order doesn’t stop Congress from reviewing waivers already submitted. Really, Congress doesn’t even need this agency action… it’s just a workaround for the filibuster rule.