Groups Slam Federal Attack On Clean Shipping Waivers

WASHINGTON, DC — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency transmitted two additional California waivers to Congress, including the Ocean-Going Vessels At Berth and Commercial Harbor Craft waivers. For 50 years, the precedent set under both Democratic and Republican administrations is that Clean Air Act waivers are not rules and are therefore not subject  to review under the Congressional Review Act (CRA). EPA’s move to reclassify them is not only a misuse of CRA, but an unlawful and reckless attack on vital clean air protections.

“The federal government’s attack on California’s At Berth and Commercial Harbor Craft waivers is a misuse of the Congressional Review Act. For more than 50 years, Clean Air Act waiver programs have been respected by Republican and Democratic administrations alike. Instead of playing politics with our health, undermining the regulatory certainty businesses rely on, and jeopardizing billions of dollars in public and private investments made under these life-saving rules, Congress should recognize this blatant overreach by the oil and gas industry to continue to put profits over people. Communities, workers, businesses and our economy will pay the cost, not polluters, if Congress repeals California’s Clean Air waivers,” said Davina Hurt, Climate Policy Director, Pacific Environment.

The At Berth regulation provides regulatory certainty to the shipping industry, and is not a fly-by-night regulation. To protect public health, improve the environment, and meet the requirements of the federal Clean Air Act, California has been regulating emissions from ships docked at port through the At  Berth Regulation since 2007. These rules were updated in 2020. Compliance requirements for the regulation have been phased in for over a decade based on vessel type and location, starting in 2014 with the last requirements becoming enforceable in 2027.

Shipping companies, ports, terminal operators, utilities, and equipment manufacturers have made long-term investments based on this established regulatory framework. Shore power infrastructure has been built, vessels have been retrofitted, equipment has been purchased, and workers have been hired to design, construct, install, operate and maintain these systems. Attempting to unwind a decades-long regulatory program after those investments have already been made risks creating stranded assets, disrupting business planning, discouraging future private investment, and placing companies that invested in America at a competitive disadvantage. 

"Once again, EPA is targeting the communities already most burdened by polluted air. The At Berth and Commercial Harbor Craft rules exist because Latine and other frontline families living next to the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have suffered decades of diesel pollution, asthma, and premature death from idling ships and outdated harbor craft. Weaponizing the Congressional Review Act to strip California of its Clean Air Act waiver authority knowingly hands polluters a green light to keep dumping toxic emissions into our neighborhoods. GreenLatinos calls on Congress to reject this reckless policy attack and stand with the people in port communities who bear the true cost of dirty air," said Andrea Marpillero-Colomina, PhD., Sustainable Communities Policy Advisor at GreenLatinos.

California Air Resources Board (CARB)’s economic analysis of the impacts of the 2020 At Berth Regulation update estimated that compliance with the regulation would cost about $0.0079 per gallon of fuel in the state supply (SRIA Appendix D, page 281 to 287). Even if the entire cost of compliance is passed down to the consumer, which is a needless assumption, given that the average California driver uses 350 gallons of gas a year, the impact to any driver will be less than $3 per year. Californians would pay pennies while saving billions of dollars in health care costs and cleaner air. Without these rules, it will undermine public health, regulatory certainty, and investments that businesses have already made to comply with the law.  

“Frontline communities suffer the impacts of living next to our ever-expanding desire for goods to be shipped directly to our homes. This capricious and illegal act by the Federal government will hurt local businesses, undermine good-paying jobs, and harm local residents. Move LA opposes this change and calls on Congress and the State of California to stop it in its tracks,” said Eli Lipmen, Executive Director, Move LA. 

“Portside communities already bear an unfair share of the health and environmental burden from freight pollution. Many neighborhoods near California’s ports are home to disproportionately low-income residents and communities of color who face elevated rates of asthma, cardiovascular disease, and other pollution-related illnesses. California’s Clean Air Act waivers are a vital tool for requiring cleaner technologies that reduce harmful emissions from marine vessels and port operations. If these waivers are overturned through the Congressional Review Act, residents living near ports would face higher pollution levels, delayed health protection, reduced state authority to address local environmental harms, and a widening of existing environmental inequities. California must retain the flexibility to adopt stronger standards where federal protections fall short and where communities urgently need cleaner air," said Terrance L. Bankston, Ports Campaign Manager, Friends of the Earth (FOE). 

The At Berth and Commercial Harbor Craft regulation saves costs and lives. The 2020 At-Berth Regulation will reduce potential cancer risk for California’s portside communities by about 60%. According to CARB’s initial analysis, the amended regulation will save 230 lives and prevent 73 hospital admissions and 116 emergency room visits statewide. These health benefits are valued at $2.31 billion.

“At this point every American knows all too well the impacts of poor air quality, thanks to this summer’s wildfires. But for port communities exposed to dirty shipping fumes, this is a year-round reality. They always have to worry about the air they’re breathing. Removing these protections is illegal and guaranteed to make air quality worse,” said Caroline Bonfield, Ocean Conservancy’s senior U.S. policy manager for climate.

The Commercial Harbor Craft Rule will save 530 California lives and protect 9.7 million Californians from elevated levels of air pollution, according to CARB. Frontline Black and brown communities have been bearing the brunt of pollution for far too long and moving to zero-emissions ferries and away from diesel and other toxic fossil fuels would clear the air for port neighbors.

"Reducing pollution from large ships when they are docked near our communities through the at berth rule is essential to protecting the health of Californians and a benchmark for emissions reductions globally. Rolling back these emission standards will take away good jobs, detrimentally impact communities living nearest to these emissions, and prevent healthy competition in a pollution reduction market that is already up and running,” said Dori Chandler, Policy Advocate with the Coalition for Clean Air.

“The At-Berth and Commercial Harbor Craft regulations are impactful methods to address the compelling and extraordinary air quality crisis harming the health, well-being, and productivity of millions of Californians. While EPA focuses on compliance costs, many of which reflect investments already made by industry, it ignores both the economic costs of air pollution. The At-Berth regulation alone is estimated to result in net health benefits that far outpace on-going costs to industry during its first decade of implementation. The Trump Administration’s efforts to strip California of its authority to enforce these and other proven, cost-effective public health protections would harm the over 10 million Californians living near freight facilities, create additional regulatory uncertainty for industry, and undermine our nation’s progress toward a cleaner, modern, and more internationally competitive freight system,” said Sam Wilson, Senior Analyst with the Union of Concerned Scientists. 

"Without any actual evidence that the maritime industry is hurting, the EPA is attempting to roll back two of the most effective rules California has to protect Portside communities from the health risks of lung-damaging pollution. This is another example of the current federal government putting industry’s profits over children’s health. Years of environmental justice wins are at stake if the Trump administration gets their way," said Jasmin Vargas, Air Quality and Clean Port Campaign Director, Environmental Health Coalition.

Eliminating this rule would do virtually nothing to lower prices at the pump while sacrificing significant public health benefits. You can't deregulate your way out of global oil price volatility. All you are doing is increasing pollution and undermining investments that industry has already made to comply with the law. 

“For decades, California has led the nation by adopting stronger, health-based transportation standards to tackle our state's severe air pollution — and it’s worked. We’ve become the gold standard for protecting public health. These two standards alone are expected to cut cancer risk in half in the coming decades. Now, the Trump Administration is selling off our clean air to protect corporate polluters’ bottom line. If there was ever a time for California congressional and state leaders to stand shoulder to shoulder in defense of our state's clean air leadership, it's now,” said Shannon Olivieri Hovis, Chief Strategy Officer, California Environmental Voters.

Ports have made significant progress and investments in a zero-emission free future. In a Bloomberg opinion piece, columnist David Fickling said, “...it’s remarkable how quickly parts of the sector have been quietly going electric. Almost all large gantry cranes — the vast metal structures that move shipping containers from deck to shore and around the port — are now grid-powered rather than dependent on engines.” Ports are also leveraging federal funding under the Clean Ports Program on their road to decarbonization. For example, the Port of Los Angeles, which receives 40% of the nation’s cargo volume, received $15M in Clean Ports Program  funds for shore power deployment at Wallenius Wilhelmsen Auto Terminal.  

“The Trump administration will do anything to prop up oil company profits, even if it means harming Californians’ health. Port-related pollution protections have been successful at saving lives and there’s no support for wiping out these common-sense rules. Trump’s scheme won’t help oil companies or anyone else, but it will make our communities sicker, less safe and more polluted,” said David Pettit, senior attorney, Climate Law Institute at the Center For Biological Diversity.

"Diesel pollution from ocean-going vessels is a silent killer in port-adjacent communities like West Oakland," said Veronica Eady, Executive Director of the West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project. "Our neighbors deal with higher rates of stroke, asthma, and other illnesses because of nonstop air pollution from the Port of Oakland. The Ocean-Going Vessels At Berth and Commercial Harbor Craft waivers have been a huge success for our community: they've allowed ships at the Port of Oakland to plug into the electric grid and shut off their diesel engines, cutting a huge source of air pollution. The EPA's attack on these waivers is an attack on the health of communities like ours." 

“The Trump administration is once again abusing its authority to do the bidding of the fossil fuel industry at the expense of people's health, said Katherine García, Sierra Club’s Clean Transportation for All Campaign Director. “This sham attempt to nullify waivers is nothing more than a political attack on California's ability to reduce the toxic diesel pollution spewing from ships, ferries, and tugboats. Congress should reject this blatant overreach. Sierra Club will continue fighting to defend these life-saving protections and states' rights to protect the air their residents breathe."  

In June 2026, California Attorney General Rob Bonta, Governor Gavin Newsom, and California Air Resources Board (CARB) filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to block the Trump administration’s recent actions targeting four Clean Air Act preemption waivers previously granted to California.  The four waivers — which concern CARB’s 2008 Greenhouse Gas Emission Standards for cars; CARB’s 2012 Emissions Standards for Cars (Advanced Clean Cars I Rule); and 2022 Small Offroad Engine Rule amendments — enable California to enforce state-level emission standards to address its severe air pollution. Additionally, California filed a lawsuit challenging EPA’s latest attack on states’ efforts to improve air quality and protect public health. 

“The Trump Administration is resorting to a familiar illegal playbook. Its continuous, outright assault on California’s waivers is blatantly politically motivated, and California won’t stand for this,” said Attorney General Bonta at the time. “We’re asking the court to stop the Administration’s latest attack on our waivers that threatens both public health and good, green jobs that bolster our economy.”