Exclusive | Trump’s EPA moves to kill Gavin Newsom’s EV mandates for good — with $1B in potential savings

President Donald Trump’s EPA is taking a chainsaw to California’s electric vehicle mandates that have spiked costs for cars, trucks — and even leaf blowers, according to critics.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin is asking Congress to waive four rules that allow California to impose strict greenhouse gas regulations on not just cars but lawn and garden equipment, which will force consumers and pro landscapers who maintain gardens, lawns and golf courses to buy expensive battery-operated equipment.

“EPA is accountable to Congress, but most importantly we must be accountable to the American people,” said Zeldin in a statement. 

“It is important for EPA to fulfill our statutory obligation to submit these California waivers to Congress for their review pursuant to the law,” he added.  

The EPA thinks the changes could reverberate nationally — as several other blue states have opted to mimic California’s super-strict emissions goals.

The Senate voted last year to end California’s zero-emissions mandate, which requires all new vehicles to be zero-emissions by 2035, but California has since tried to tweak its original emissions mandate, called Advanced Clean Cars I, to evade the congressional ban.

The Department of Justice sued California over what it has called a “backdoor” EV mandate.

The sweeping new EPA plan, if approved by Congress, could shut the door entirely on California’s tight emissions rules by banning several carve-outs it received under President Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

“The Trump administration is doubling down on its illegal use of the Congressional Review Act — a tactic the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office and the Senate’s own Parliamentarian have already ruled as out of bounds,” Newsom’s spokesperson Anthony Martinez said in a statement.

” Donald Trump and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin are working overtime to dismantle these protections at the direction of the oil industry to let cars spew more lung-clogging pollution and fill our neighborhoods with noisier, smellier gas-powered equipment,” he added. “California has defended our authority before, and we will defend it and clean air for Californians again.”

A statute under the federal Energy Policy and Conservation Act generally prohibits individual states from adopting fuel economy regulations, but California has been granted multiple exemptions dating back more than a decade. 

Following a directive from Gov. Gavin Newsom, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) in 2022 adopted Advanced Clean Cars II, which required 100% of new passenger and light truck sales to be zero-emissions by 2035.

Then-President Joe Biden’s EPA signed a waiver for California to enforce the rule.

Three other regulations — the Small Offroad Engine (SORE) Amendments, Advanced Clean Cars 1, and Greenhouse Gas Emission Standards enacted in 2009 — have forced manufacturers to absorb hefty costs, in some cases.

The Outdoor Power Equipment Institute (OPEI), the Tree Care Industry Association (TCIA), and other industry groups strongly pushed back on California regulations requiring electric, battery-operated leaf blowers and lawn equipment — saying the mandate loaded $1 billion in extra costs.

Commercial landscapers simply cannot do their jobs using battery-operated equipment that runs out and need to be recharged constantly, the groups argued.

California’s regulations became a template other blue states who wanted to adopted stricter emissions rules.

Zeldin’s congressional waiver requests are only the latest move by federal authorities to dismantle environmental regulations.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee subpoenaed California Air Resources Board Chair Lauren Sanchez in March demanding documents related to its zero-emission mandate.

In December, Trump unveiled plans to slash Biden-era fuel efficiency standards and Congress has also ended federal tax credits for electric vehicle purchases.

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