Sierra Club Condemns Congressional Effort to Attack California’s Waivers Protecting Clean Air

Support CleanTechnica’s work through a Substack subscription, on Patreon, or on Stripe. Help us produce all of the high-quality, original content we publish week after week despite the challenges of content-scraping AI, antisocial media, inflation, and other hurdles.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, House Republican Representative Harriet Hageman introduced legislation under the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to revoke California’s Clean Air Act waiver allowing the state to enforce stronger than federal greenhouse gas standards for vehicles.

This legislation targets policy that is already fully phased in, which means cars and trucks impacted by it are already on the road. The move is the latest attempt by congressional Republicans and the Trump administration to dismantle longstanding clean air protections and undermine states’ ability to protect residents from dangerous vehicle pollution.

In response to the bill introduction, Sierra Club Climate Policy Director Patrick Drupp released the following statement:

“Congressional Republicans and the Trump administration are once again putting Big Oil’s profits ahead of Americans’ health and wallets. California’s Clean Air Act waivers have delivered cleaner air, driven innovation, and saved drivers money for decades.

“American families are facing rising costs and worsening climate impacts, and Republicans in Congress are wasting time attacking states’ rights to cleaner air to satisfy Trump’s anti-clean car obsession.

“Nullifying California’s clean vehicle waivers will not make cars more affordable. Sierra Club will continue fighting to defend these lifesaving protections and states’ rights to protect the air their residents breathe.”

About the Sierra Club

The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person’s right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.