Bonta sues EPA over ‘unlawful attack’ on California emissions policies
Attorney General Rob Bonta sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Monday after the regulator signaled efforts to further dismantle California’s emission policies.
It’s round two for the federal agency, which mounted a campaign against similar emissions policies early last year. That attempt successfully nullified a rule that would have required all vehicles sold in California to be zero-emission by 2035. Afterward, Bonta sued President Donald Trump and the EPA in a case that is still being litigated.
On June 12, the EPA announced it would give Congress the power to review other California emissions policies, a move that will likely result in their revocation. The specific programs targeted by the EPA regulate emissions from vehicles, lawn and garden equipment, and generators.
Bonta, alongside a multi-state coalition of attorneys general, filed another lawsuit against the agency in response.
“These latest illegal actions would mean more pollution, poorer air quality, more market uncertainty and greater health risks for communities already overburdened by emissions,” said Bonta in a statement Monday.
California has long held special authority under the federal Clean Air Act to set stricter emissions standards than the federal government because of the state’s historic smog problems. Other states don’t have the same authority, but many can — and do — choose to adhere to California’s rules over the national standard.
Trump has framed California’s regulations as a burden for automakers and an attack on the oil and gas industry. He has sought to block the state’s laws using federal agencies and a unified Congress.
“We officially rescue the U.S. auto industry from destruction by terminating the California electric vehicle mandate once and for all,” Trump said at a June 2025 press conference announcing the resolution that blocked the state’s zero-emission vehicle mandate.
“The automakers didn’t know what to do ... when you have 17 states, you’re building cars for two countries,” Trump said, referring to the states that have decided to follow California’s standards.
The EPA used a novel administrative maneuver to redefine the Clean Air Act carve-out that allows California to create tighter standards. Under the law, California is able to set these stricter standards through a waiver from the EPA.
Before the second Trump administration, those waivers had never required congressional approval. But the EPA announced a new interpretation of regulatory procedures that allows the agency to send the waivers to Congress.
The EPA said the regulations “leave small businesses, landscapers and homeowners forced to use expensive and impractical electric tools.”
Bonta called the second round in the EPA’s regulatory battle with California’s emissions policy “an unlawful attack.”
“For 50 years, both Democratic and Republican administrations have agreed that EPA Clean Air Act waivers are not rules, and EPA’s unlawful attempt to reclassify them — years after the fact — is an illegal attempt to take down these important tools,” Bonta said.
