Judge Orders EPA to Restore Four California Waivers’ Pre-June Status — ACC II Isn’t One of Them

A federal judge granted California a preliminary injunction Wednesday and ordered the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to take the steps within its control to restore the status that existed before June 12 for four specifically named Clean Air Act waiver orders.¹

The order also requires EPA to withdraw or correct public statements that reclassified those waivers from orders to rules, and it bars the agency from giving those reclassifications — or other such reclassifications — effect while the injunction remains in force. EPA must file a status report by September 21 describing its compliance steps. The order remains in effect until further court action and is appealable.¹

The order directly interrupts EPA’s 2026 approach to the four waivers while the case proceeds, but its scope is narrower than a headline about California’s entire EV policy might suggest.¹

The ruling covers four older waivers

EPA said on June 12 that it had determined four previously issued California waivers were “rules” under the Congressional Review Act and had transmitted them to Congress for review.² The four actions named by both EPA and the September 2 court order are:

• the Advanced Clean Cars I evaporative-emissions and greenhouse-gas waiver;
• the reinstatement of Advanced Clean Cars I;
• the Small Offroad Engine amendments; and
• the 2009-and-subsequent-model-year greenhouse-gas standards waiver.¹²

The vehicle-related waivers matter beyond California because EPA’s current waiver guidance says Clean Air Act Section 177 allows other states that meet the statutory conditions to adopt qualifying California motor-vehicle emission standards after California has received a waiver.³ The new injunction, however, does not establish a specific near-term EV-sales requirement, automaker cost, vehicle-price effect or sales-volume change.¹

EPA publicly defended its June classification of the four waiver actions as Congressional Review Act rules.² That classification is disputed in the current federal litigation, and the September 2 order prevents EPA from giving the challenged reclassifications effect while the preliminary injunction is in place.¹

ACC II and the 2035 ZEV rules are separate

The most important scope distinction for EV readers is what is not in the four-waiver list: California’s separate Advanced Clean Cars II waiver.¹

EPA granted that waiver in December 2024 and described ACC II as a program covering model years 2026 through 2035 and beyond, including revisions to California’s low-emission-vehicle and zero-emission-vehicle regulations.⁴ Congress later disapproved that separate waiver in Public Law 119-16, approved June 12, 2025.⁵

Because ACC II is not one of the four waiver orders named in the September 2 restoration provision, the new injunction does not on its face restore ACC II or California’s separately disapproved 2035 ZEV waiver.¹⁵⁴ The ruling therefore should not be read as a court order putting California’s 2035 ZEV requirements back into effect.¹⁵⁴

The case is not finished

The September 2 ruling is preliminary rather than a final judgment on the merits. The injunction remains in place until further order of the court, and the order identifies itself as appealable.¹

For now, EPA has been ordered to restore the pre-June 12 status for the four named waiver orders, correct or withdraw the challenged public reclassification language, and refrain from giving those reclassifications effect. The next date fixed by the order is September 21, when EPA must file its compliance status report.¹

Sources

Footnotes

1. Order, California v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Civil Action No. 26-cv-2185 (BAH), Document 45 — U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, filed Sept. 2, 2026; public copy hosted by the California Department of Justice. https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/attachments/press-docs/order.pdf Establishes the preliminary injunction, exact four-waiver scope, restoration/correction/stay requirements, Sept. 21 status-report deadline and appealable posture. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹

2. EPA Fulfills Statutory Obligation by Transmitting Four California Waiver Rules to Congress — U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, June 12, 2026. https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-fulfills-statutory-obligation-transmitting-four-california-waiver-rules-congress Establishes EPA’s public position that the four waiver actions were CRA rules, its transmittal action and the names of the four waivers. EPA’s legal characterization remains disputed. ↩ ↩² ↩³

3. Vehicle Emissions California Waivers and Authorizations — U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, current page observed Sept. 2, 2026. https://www.epa.gov/regulations-emissions-vehicles-and-engines/vehicle-emissions-california-waivers-and-authorizations Establishes the general Section 209(b)/Section 177 waiver framework; it is not used to infer same-day EPA compliance with the new injunction. ↩

4. EPA Grants Waiver for California’s Advanced Clean Cars II Regulations — U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Dec. 18, 2024. https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-grants-waiver-californias-advanced-clean-cars-ii-regulations Establishes that ACC II was a separate waiver package covering model years 2026 through 2035 and beyond and included revised LEV/ZEV regulations. ↩ ↩² ↩³

5. Public Law 119-16 — Congressional disapproval of Advanced Clean Cars II waiver — U.S. Government Publishing Office / Office of the Federal Register, approved June 12, 2025. https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/PLAW-119publ16 Establishes Congress’s disapproval of the separate ACC II waiver. ↩ ↩² ↩³