Congressional actions in the past week essentially killed Colorado鈥檚 electric vehicle mandate and threaten billions of dollars in solar and wind power construction meant to ease greenhouse gas emissions and ozone, environmental and state political leaders said.
Congress overturned an EPA waiver granted to California to allow that industry-dominating state to ban fossil fuel vehicle sales by 2035, a move that Colorado officials say also negates copycat EV mandates passed by Colorado and a dozen-odd other states.
In 2023, Colorado air regulators voted to require 82% of new vehicles be EVs by 2032, and an increasing share of heavy trucks as well, going well beyond floors set by the EPA. They also required a study of how Colorado could match California鈥檚 fossil fuel car ban by 2035.
鈥淚 think that this is going to block Colorado from implementing our Clean Car and Truck Rules for now. States need the waiver to enforce their rules,鈥� said Travis Madsen, transportation analyst with the nonprofit Southwest Energy Efficiency Project. 鈥淭he approach here鈥� 鈥� getting Congress instead of an EPA administrator to overturn the waiver 鈥渋s unprecedented,鈥� Madsen said.
鈥淚f it holds up in court, EPA may not be able to issue a similar waiver again in the future. Who knows what that means 鈥� it鈥檚 totally untested law,鈥� he said. States are vowing to fight the Congressional overturn in court, Madsen said, but 鈥渨hile those challenges move forward, I鈥檇 bet that states will not be able to enforce the rules.鈥�
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