Providing Congressional Disapproval of the Rule Submitted By the Environmental Protection Agency Relating to ``California State Motor Vehicle and Engine and Nonroad Engine Pollution Control Standards; the `omnibus' Low Nox Regulation; Waiver of Preemption; Notice of Decision''

Floor Speech

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Mr. TONKO. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New Jersey for yielding. I rise in opposition to this Congressional Review Act resolution. We have already heard so much debate about why the Congressional Review Act is not applicable to these waivers and why this is such an egregious attack on States' rights, so I won't belabor those points.

I will say that California developed this rule, the heavy-duty omnibus rule, to reduce pollution from some of the worst sources of traditional air pollution from the transportation sector.

This rule does not include a sales requirement for zero-emission trucks, but it would result in diesel vehicles reducing their output of harmful NOX and particulate matter.

Despite these trucks and buses being only a small fraction of vehicles on the road, they account for some 45 percent of NOX and 56 percent of fine particulate matter pollution from the transportation sector.

We know that heavy-duty vehicles have a long lifespan. Vehicles sold today will still be on the roads for many, many years. Ensuring that new trucks and buses are as low-polluting as possible not only reduces pollution today, but will continue to contribute to cleaning up our air for decades to follow.

I know this decision to regulate was not made lightly. The California Air Resources Board spent significant time working with truck and engine manufacturers to allow for compliance flexibilities and alignment with EPA's NOX standards, but, ultimately, California's decision to pursue this rule was done for the sake of their residents, residents that live along highways and ports and who experience a disproportionate amount of pollution from truck traffic.

Madam Speaker, anyone who has spent time in neighborhoods that border these industrial sites, as I have in the south end of Albany that I represent, knows that these additional public health protections are not only warranted but they are indeed necessary.

I am glad that California is leading the way in reducing diesel truck pollution, and we should not stop them from wanting to better protect these fenceline communities.

Of course, no other State is required to adopt the California rule. Like so many other vehicle innovations, I suspect that many of our constituents, whether our States adopt the rule or not, will thank California for supporting the development of new pollution control technologies that will result in all of us benefiting from cleaner and healthier air.

Madam Speaker, I urge Members to reject this resolution.

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