19. Department of Transportation · Major
Preempt CARB and invalidate its ban on internal combustion engine sales
Printed page 629 19. Department of Transportation
“The federal government should therefore exercise its preemptive authority over CARB and take all steps necessary to invalidate any inconsistent fuel economy requirements imposed by CARB, including its ban on sales of internal combustion engines.”
What has happened
- Partially done
DOJ, on behalf of NHTSA, sued CARB in the Eastern District of California (2:26-cv-00847) arguing that California's vehicle rules are state fuel-economy requirements preempted by EPCA — the Mandate's exact theory. No judgment yet; CARB's rules have not been invalidated by a court.
- Partially done
DOJ filed complaints against CARB in the Eastern District of California and Northern District of Illinois to stop enforcement of the heavy-duty standards through the "Clean Truck Partnership", and a parallel Ninth Circuit filing on CARB's light-duty rules — the first federal enforcement of preemption against CARB.
- Partially done
Public Law 119-16 disapproved EPA's waiver for Advanced Clean Cars II — the regulation carrying California's 2035 ban on new internal-combustion sales — so the ban lost its Clean Air Act footing; Public Law 119-15 did the same for the Advanced Clean Trucks waiver. California sued the same day and CARB continued to assert its rules.
- Attempted
Executive Order 14260 directed the Attorney General to identify state climate and emissions laws that are preempted by federal law and to "stop the enforcement" of them, naming California's program in its findings; no action against CARB yet.
Research log
What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence
Research notes
- Dockets (leads; CourtListener docket pages are not readable without auth): United States v. California Air Resources Board, E.D. Cal. 2:26-cv-00847, filed 2026-03-12 (cause “28:2201 Injunction”) — https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72455543/usa-v-california-air-resources-board/ ; Daimler Truck North America v. CARB, E.D. Cal. 2:25-cv-02255, filed 2025-08-11 — the Clean Truck Partnership case DOJ intervened in — https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71084983/daimler-truck-north-america-llc-v-ca-air-resources-board/ . No opinion in the Corpus; the bulk snapshot (2026-06-30) shows both open.
- NHTSA’s June 2025 interpretive rule and the December 2025 SAFE III proposal both restate that EPCA preempts state fuel-economy-related rules “regardless of whether EPA has granted waivers” (SAFE III text, Docket NHTSA-2025-0491); tracked under #1718, cited here only as the legal basis for the March 2026 suit.
- done would need the ICE sales ban invalidated (court judgment or California repeal). Overlaps #1720, which owns the waiver-disapproval sequence and the California suits.
- Action
- eliminate
- Object
- California Air Resources Board fuel economy rules and ICE sales ban
- ID
- 1721