May 9, 2025 | Travis Madsen, Transportation Program Director
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Oil interests are working to take away states’ ability to drive towards a more-efficient, less-polluting transportation system. In early May 2025, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to strike down waivers issued by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) during the Biden Administration that are required in order for states to enforce clean vehicle regulations. According to the New York Times, petroleum interests joined automakers, car dealers, and free market groups to spend well over $10 million on a campaign to get Congress to eliminate the waivers – and not through the normal process at the EPA, but in radical fashion by using the Congressional Review Act, which could end up preventing any administration from ever issuing similar permission for state action in the future.
Now action goes to the Senate. If oil interests win, manufacturers will make fewer electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles – extending our dependence on petroleum and wasting our money on inefficient, outdated technology.
Make no mistake, a vote to strike down the clean car and truck waivers is a vote to keep us chained to the gas pump and waste our money. The Southwest Energy Efficiency Project (SWEEP) estimates that a typical driver in the Southwest could save ~$20,000 on the all-in cost of owning a vehicle by choosing an electric model. That’s because electricity is much cheaper than gasoline or diesel, electric vehicles (EVs) are far more efficient than combustion models; and EVs cost less to maintain.
But those savings are only available if automakers are actually producing these vehicles and offering them for sale.
One of the reasons automakers have moved toward EVs is because of state leadership, enabled by the Clean Air Act. For nearly 50 years, the Clean Air Act has allowed California the authority to establish vehicle pollution standards that are at least as protective as what the federal government requires. And in the Clean Air Act, Congress allowed states that are out of compliance with federal air quality targets the explicit right to protect their residents’ health by following suit. States across the country – including four states in the U.S. Southwest where SWEEP works – have chosen to adopt stronger vehicle emission standards at various points in time over the last several decades. Colorado and New Mexico participate in the current versions of the Advanced Clean Cars and Trucks programs, while Arizona and Nevada adopted earlier versions of policy in the 2010s and early 2020s.
That’s helped make the Southwest into one of the leading regions for EV deployment in the United States.
(It’s important to note that these clean vehicle standards are optional. States can choose to adopt them, or not. States that adopt them can choose to withdraw later. There is no national EV mandate here. Instead, there’s laboratories of democracy, continually innovating to solve real problems and make peoples’ lives better.)
The benefits of clean vehicle policy are not just limited to participating states. States that do opt in are helping to increase demand for and the availability of more efficient vehicles, and that is good for everyone. For example, in addition to increased access to savings for drivers, Southwest states – especially Nevada and Arizona – are attracting billions in new investments and thousands of jobs in battery and vehicle manufacturing.
Staying the course toward electrification will deliver close to $3 trillion in benefits nationally by 2050, including cost savings, improved public health, and reduced pollution. The Advanced Clean Cars and Trucks programs and their federal waivers are critical tools that are helping to unlock those massive benefits.
Beyond the clear value of the Advanced Clean Car and Truck programs, we have serious concerns about how using the Congressional Review Act in this new and radical way could disrupt legislative norms and create a dangerous precedent. The Senate Parliamentarian and the General Accounting Office have both issued opinions that the Clean Car and Truck program waivers are not subject to the Congressional Review Act, because they are not federal regulations. If the Senate overrides the Parliamentarian to expand the scope of this law, it would throw dozens of other agency actions that are not regulations – whether permits, Medicaid waivers, licenses, or similar actions – into a state of legal uncertainty. It would also go around Senate procedures and could be used to dismantle other legislative norms – with unpredictable and far-reaching consequences.
Senators, we respectfully ask you to oppose any attacks on the Advanced Clean Cars and Trucks programs or their associated federal waivers. Don’t let them make us waste money on gas.
Members of the public: make your voices heard. Look up your senator here and call or email their office to urge them to oppose any attack on clean cars and trucks policy.
