ACT NOW: Congress will have a hearing today on (illegally) using the Congressional Review Act to revoke states’ right to protect residents from tailpipe pollution!
It's up to us to stop this unprecedented and reckless attack on the Clean Air Act — through a rollback on Clean Vehicle Waivers — and state rights. As I stated below, repealing these waivers is a direct attack on state rights to protect their residents from health-harming tailpipe pollution and could prevent the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from approving new waivers for any future similar actions.
In the past few years we’ve seen a rise in natural disasters due to climate change and high levels of toxic air pollution. We all have a right to clean air and a healthy climate, for our health and safety. Despite this, we are right now seeing an unprecedented and reckless attack on the Clean Air Act, which would jeopardize our right to clean air, as some members of Congress seek to overturn clean vehicle standards that cut toxic vehicle emissions. Do you have a second to send your Congressperson a message and stand up for our right to clean air?
Specifically, some members of Congress are trying to repeal the Clean Vehicle Waivers and rollback state-level vehicle emission standards through the Congressional Review Act (CRA). However, Congress does not have the authority to overturn Clean Vehicle Waivers, as they are “orders” and not “rules,” and therefore not subject to the CRA.
Repealing these waivers is a direct attack on state rights to protect their residents from health-harming tailpipe pollution and could prevent the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from approving new waivers for any future similar actions. It is also an attack on America’s more than half-century-old bedrock environmental law, as it seeks to damage state rights afforded by the Clean Air Act - that have been repeatedly affirmed and strengthened by deliberate Congressional action over several decades. The Clean Air Act is more important than ever right now.
