Congress impotently declares end to CA EV rules it can’t actually end
Republicans in Congress have voted to use its authority under the Congressional Review Act to roll back California’s states’ right to protect its own residents’ lungs and pocketbooks with better emissions rules.
But here’s the thing: Congress doesn’t have that authority, and the republican party is once again just farting in the wind with the sole purpose of letting everyone know that it wants to poison Americans and raise their fuel costs.
We’ve heard plenty of stories recently about how the senile felon squatting in the White House wants to harm Americans. But in the last 100 days of the exact kind of incompetent flailing that anyone with half a brain expected out of him, relatively less attention has been paid to the attempts of republicans in Congress to poison Americans.
Well, they’ve decided to jump into the spotlight and remind everyone just how bad the entire party is, as republicans in Congress have voted to increase pollution and fuel costs for California and 11 other states.
The vote comes in the form of a Congressional Review Act action withdrawing California’s “waiver” from the EPA. For more than half a century, California has asked for and been granted this waiver that allows it to set its own emissions rules. Other states can follow California’s rules (and around 11 states do so, though that amount differs for each rule), as long as they do so exactly, and as long as those rules are stronger than the national ones.
It has this unique authority because California had its own Clean Air Act before the federal Clean Air Act was passed, and because the state had a unique problem with smog at the time and needed stricter rules than the rest of the country. California’s clean air laws have been effective in reducing pollution, with vehicle-based pollutants dropping by 98% in the last 50 years. But of course, there’s still more to be done, as the LA area remains one of the smoggiest in the country.
Despite the protestations of industry at the time and since, these rules have not made it impossible for them to operate, or sell cars, or profit from selling cars, in the region.
And California’s newest set of rules is set to save Californians, and the residents of other states who follow them, hundreds of billions of dollars on health, fuel, and maintenance costs through 2050 by encouraging electrification – and of course will save thousands of lives due to pollution reductions. Republicans targeted not just California’s regulation on light duty vehicles today (ACC II), but tried to roll back some other truck emissions rules yesterday (the ACT and HD low-NOx Omnibus rules).
So, Congress has declared it wants to end California’s progress in protecting its own residents. Despite the massive improvement in health and air quality, and reduction in health costs as a result, republicans in Congress are once again making it clear that they favor poisoning Americans, so much so that they’ll even try illegal actions to do it.
The problem with using the Congressional Review Act in this situation is that it is doubly illegal to do. The CRA gives Congress the authority to roll back government agency actions, like those of the EPA, but it has been rarely used since its passing, since doing so results in a dysfunctional government and an unpredictable business environment.
But the CRA has a time limit, and Congress must act to reverse these rules within 60 days. The EPA approved California’s waiver on December 18, 2024, which is more than 60 days ago; therefore, the CRA does not apply.
Further, even if it were within 60 days, the CRA can’t be used to reject California’s waiver, because it isn’t a “rule.” The CRA only allows Congress to change “rules,” and the waiver isn’t a rule itself; it’s just EPA telling California that it can set its own rules. Both the Senate Parliamentarian and the Government Accountability Office (the real government office that holds government to account, unlike Elon Musk’s fake and redundant “Department of Government Efficiency” advisory board), along with many others have recognized that this is the case, and Congress knows it. But hey, at least they have the oil companies on their side.
So, Congress’ action today is illegal, and doubly so. It knows that this vote has no legal backing – but it still took the vote anyway, impotently screaming from the rafters “WE WANT TO KILL YOU!!!”… which apparently some people still need to hear.
For its part, the California Air Resources Board, the organization responsible for California’s regulations, said “CARB will continue its mission to protect the public health of Californians impacted by harmful air pollution.” So, we hope that CARB will continue to act within the law, and ignore Congress’ ridiculous protest.
Meanwhile, doctors, nurses, scientists, environmental groups, many businesses, people who recognize that they have lungs which they would like to continue using, and so on, generally support the strongest regulation possible. This week, more than 100 clean air groups sent a letter supporting the waiver. But who listens to those idiots anyway?
That hasn’t stopped other bad actors from stepping in to show support. The auto lobbyist that represents virtually every car company, which calls itself the “Alliance for Automotive Innovation” despite routinely opposing electrification efforts, came out in favor of ending California’s clean air rules. This is despite the weasel who runs the organization, John Bozzella, appearing on stage to give a speech when the EPA implemented rules with similar goals on a national level.
Bozzella has long stated that he thinks California and the EPA should have the same set of rules – but his organization is the one that originally lobbied Mr. Trump, during his first period squatting in the White House, to shatter the single national standard that had been set up under President Obama, opening this Pandora’s Box to begin with. And in case you need a reminder, California ended up winning that fight, which somebody predicted well ahead of time.
And don’t forget: the Alliance Against Automotive Innovation’s opposition to EVs will signal the nail in the coffin for the US auto industry. China is getting great at building EVs, to the point that other nations are desperately trying to put up barriers to stop them. But it hasn’t worked, and it won’t work. The only thing that will work is getting more serious about EVs, and trying to stop them ain’t it.
And, of course, the oil industry, responsible for untold death and destruction, has also arranged itself on the side of poisoning Americans, alongside republicans in Congress. What a surprise.
We, at least, know what side we’re on.
Update: Republicans have passed the second round of votes today, and have now illegally tried to end all three of California’s regulations they were targeting.
They were joined by some Democrats in each respective vote, including two California Democrats, Whitesides and Correa, both of whom represent areas around LA with high levels of pollution (both of these traitors need to be removed from their posts in the next primary election and feel free to click those links to give them a piece of your mind).
Only one republican, Fitzpatrick of PA, had the good sense to vote against two of these illegal and violent moves (though he voted for the third, and the one that will cause the most pollution and increase people’s costs the most – trying to roll back ACC II). The bills will now go to the Senate, but even if they pass there, they are still illegal.
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The ID.4 is one of several Volkswagen electric vehicles that will be impacted by the planned shutdowns at two German EV plants. VW is also planning to halt production of the ID.4 in the US.
Volkswagen plans shutdowns at ID.4, Audi EV plants
Europe’s largest automaker will temporarily halt production at two German plants where it builds some of its most popular electric cars.
Volkswagen will shut down its Zwickau plant, where it builds the Audi Q4 e-tron (including the Sportback), for a week, starting on October 8. A company spokesperson confirmed the news with Bloomberg, saying the luxury electric SUV took a hit from the new US tariffs and Germany’s push to slow the EU’s shift to EVs.
The Emden plant, where Volkswagen builds the ID.4 and ID.7, has already slashed worker hours and is expected to temporarily shut down for at least a few days, according to sources close to the matter.
Although Volkswagen has had strong EV sales in Europe, even overtaking Tesla as the largest electric car brand in the region in the first half of the year, it’s struggling with overproduction. Like several automakers, VW is also bracing for slower sales as the market shifts.
The Zwickau and Emden plants exclusively produce EVs and were part of Volkswagen’s major restructuring deal last year.
To avoid shutting down the facilities, VW agreed to reduce its workforce by 35,000 across Germany by 2030. Jobs in Emden and Zwickau were protected under the agreement.
Volkswagen builds other electric vehicles, including the ID.3 and Cupra Born, but these models are set to move to its Wolfsburg plant over the next few years. The Zwickau plant will continue building the Audi Q4 e-tron following the shutdown.
The planned shutdowns in Germany follow Volkswagen’s announcement to halt ID.4 production in the US earlier this month.
VW will pause ID.4 production at its Chattanooga, Tennessee, plant, starting in late October. The company said it was “a market-driven decision.”
Volkswagen has been offering some of the most significant discounts on electric vehicles in the US. The VW ID.4 has been the most affordable EV to lease, starting at just $129 per month. However, with the $7,500 federal EV tax credit expiring at the end of the month, VW, like many others, is expecting slower sales in the coming months.
Want to test Volkswagen’s electric SUV out for yourself? You can use our link to find Volkswagen ID.4 models in your area (trusted affiliate link).
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Environment
OpenAI’s historic week has redefined the AI arms race for investors: ‘I don’t see this as crazy’
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman listens to questions at a Q&A following a tour of the OpenAI data center in Abilene, Texas, U.S., Sept. 23, 2025.
Shelby Tauber | Reuters
This week, OpenAI redefined what momentum — and risk — look like in the artificial intelligence arms race.
Now comes the hard part: Executing on CEO Sam Altman‘s multitrillion-dollar vision.
In a rapid-fire series of announcements, the company unveiled partnerships involving mind-bending sums of money and cemented its place at the center of the next wave of machine learning infrastructure.
It began Monday with news that Nvidia plans to invest up to $100 billion to help OpenAI build data center capacity with millions of graphics processing units (GPUs). A day later, OpenAI revealed an expanded deal with Oracle and SoftBank, scaling its “Stargate” project to a $400 billion commitment across multiple phases and sites. Then on Thursday, OpenAI deepened its enterprise reach with a formal integration into Databricks — signaling a new phase in its push for commercial adoption.
“In all, this is the biggest tale yet of Silicon Valley’s signature fake it ’til you make it, and so far it seems to be working,” said Gil Luria, managing director at D.A. Davidson.
The startup, known mostly for its ChatGPT chatbot and GPT family of large language models, is trying to become something much bigger: the next hyperscaler. Never mind that it’s burning billions of dollars in cash and is fully reliant on outside capital to grow, nor that its buildout plans require the amount of energy that would be needed to power more than 13 million U.S. homes.
Altman has long said that delivering the next era of AI will require exponentially more infrastructure.
“You should expect OpenAI to spend trillions of dollars on data center construction in the not very distant future,” he told CNBC and a small group of reporters over dinner in San Francisco last month. “And you should expect a bunch of economists wringing their hands, saying, ‘This is so crazy, it’s so reckless,’ and we’ll just be like, ‘You know what? Let us do our thing.'”
The story OpenAI is selling is that it’s responding to market demand, which shows no signs of stopping. And eventually, the thinking goes, this will all be profitable.
Current financial projections show OpenAI is on track to generate $125 billion in revenue by 2029, according to a source familiar with the company’s internal forecasts.
It’s a bold bet – and one full of execution risk.
Building out 17 gigawatts of capacity would require the equivalent of about 17 nuclear power plants, each of which takes at least a decade to build. The OpenAI team says talks are underway with hundreds of infrastructure providers across North America, but there are no firm answers yet.
The U.S. grid is already strained, gas turbines are sold out through 2028, nuclear is slow to deploy and renewables are tied up in political roadblocks.
“I am extremely bullish about nuclear, advanced fission, fusion,” Altman said. “We should build more … a lot more of the current generation of fission plants, given the needs for dense, dense energy.”
What did crystallize this week, however, was the scale of Altman’s ambition as the OpenAI CEO began to put hard numbers behind his vision – some of them staggering.
“Unlike previous technological revolutions or previous versions of the internet, there’s so much infrastructure that’s required, and this is a small sample of it,” Altman said Tuesday at OpenAI’s first Stargate site in Abilene, Texas.
That mentality – blunt, ambitious, and dismissive of convention – has defined Altman’s leadership in this new phase.
Deedy Das, partner at Menlo Ventures, said the scale of OpenAI’s infrastructure partnerships with Oracle may seem extreme to some, but he views it differently.
“I don’t see this as crazy. I see it as existential for the race to superintelligence,” he said.
Das argued that data and compute are the two biggest levers for scaling AI, and praised Altman for recognizing early on just how steep the ramp in infrastructure would need to be.
“One of his gifts is reading the exponential and planning for it,” he added.
History shows that breakthroughs in AI aren’t driven by smarter algorithms, he added, but by access to massive computing power. That’s why companies like OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic are all chasing scale.
Alibaba, OpenAI, and Anthropic have all pointed to insatiable demand for their models from consumers and businesses alike. As these companies push to embed AI into everyday workflows, the infrastructure stakes keep rising.
Ubiquitous, always-on intelligence requires more than just code — it takes power, land, chips, and years of planning.
“I think people who use ChatGPT every day have no idea that this is what it takes,” Altman said, gesturing to the site in Abilene. “This is 10% of what the site is going to be. We’re doing ten of these.”
He added, “This requires such an insane amount of physical infrastructure to deliver.”
The cost of staying ahead
Though the buildout is flashy, the funding behind it remains hazy.
Nvidia’s $100 billion investment will arrive in $10 billion tranches over the next several years. OpenAI’s buildout commitment with Oracle and SoftBank could eventually reach $400 billion.
Microsoft, OpenAI’s largest partner and shareholder that holds a right of first refusal for cloud deals, “is not willing to write them an unlimited check for compute,” Luria said. “So they’ve turned to Oracle with a commitment considerably bigger than they can live up to.”
As a non-investment-grade startup without positive cash flow, OpenAI still faces a major financing challenge.
Executives have called equity “the most expensive” way to fund infrastructure, and the company is preparing to take on debt to cover the rest of its buildout. Nvidia’s long-term lease structure could help OpenAI secure better terms from banks, but it still needs to raise multiples of that capital in the private markets.
OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar said the company plans to build some of its own first-party infrastructure — not to replace partners like Oracle, but to become a savvier operator. Doing some of the work internally, she said, makes OpenAI “a better partner” by allowing it to challenge vendor assumptions and gain a clearer view into actual costs versus padded estimates.
That, in turn, strengthens its position in rate negotiations.
“The other tool at their disposal to reduce burn rate is to start selling ads within ChatGPT, which may also help with the fundraising,” Luria suggested as a way to ease its burn rate.
Altman said earlier this year in an interview with Ben Thompson’s Stratechery that he’d rather test affiliate-style fees than traditional ads, floating a 2% cut when users buy something they discovered through the tool. He stressed rankings wouldn’t be for sale, and while ads aren’t ruled out, other monetization models come first.
That question of how to monetize becomes even more urgent amid OpenAI’s breakneck growth.
“We are growing faster than any business I’ve ever heard of before,” Altman said, adding that demand is accelerating so quickly that even this buildout pace will “look slow” in hindsight. Usage of ChatGPT, he noted, has surged roughly tenfold over the past 18 months, particularly on the enterprise side.
And that demand isn’t slowing.
Accenture CEO Julie Sweet told CNBC’s Sara Eisen on “Money Movers” Thursday that she’s seeing an inflection point in enterprise adoption.
“Every CEO board in the C-suite recognizes that advanced AI is critical to the future,” she said. “The challenge right now they’re facing is that they’re really excited about the technology, and they’re not yet AI-ready — for most companies.”
Her firm signed 37 clients this quarter with bookings over $100 million.
“We’re still in the thick of it,” she added. “There’s a ton of work to do.”
Ali Ghodsi, CEO of Databricks, said Thursday that concerns about overbuilding miss the bigger picture.
“There’s going to be much more AI usage in the future than we have today. There’s no doubt about that,” he said. “Not every person on the planet is using at the fullest capacity these AI models. So more capacity will be needed.”
That optimism is one reason Ghodsi struck a formal integration deal with OpenAI this week — a partnership that brings GPT-5 directly into Databricks’ data tooling and reflects growing enterprise demand for OpenAI’s models inside business software.
Still, Ghodsi said it’s important to maintain flexibility.
Databricks now hosts all three major foundation models — OpenAI, Anthropic, and Alphabet’s Gemini — so customers aren’t locked into a single provider.
But even as infrastructure ramps up, the scale and speed of OpenAI’s spending spree have raised questions about execution.
Nvidia is supplying capital and chips. Oracle is building the sites. OpenAI is anchoring the demand. It’s a circular economy that could come under pressure if any one player falters.
And while the headlines came fast this week, the physical buildout will take years to deliver — with much of it dependent on energy and grid upgrades that remain uncertain.
Friar acknowledged that challenge.
“There’s not enough compute to do all the things that AI can do, and so we need to get it started,” she said. “And we need to do it as a full ecosystem.”
WATCH: Oracle, OpenAI and SoftBank unveil $400 billion Stargate data center
Tesla is asking the Trump administration not to repeal EPA rules that allow automakers to sell more polluting vehicles despite the company’s CEO, Elon Musk, donating more than $200 million to Trump’s campaign, which clearly included repealing the EPA rules as part of its platform.
For years, Donald Trump has been spreading misinformation about electric vehicles.
Therefore, it wasn’t surprising when he made removing the federal EV tax credit and EPA rules that force automakers to produce more EVs a central part of his platform during the 2024 presidential campaign.
What was more surprising was to see Tesla CEO Elon Musk back Trump with more than $200 million in campaign financing and claiming that the then-former President was “right about everything.”
Musk has even proudly stood behind Trump has he was calling for the end of the “EV mandate.”
While the CEO publicly sided with Trump on removing the tax credit for EVs, he hasn’t commented on the EPA emission rules.
Now, Tesla is commenting and the company is urging the Trump administration to keep them.
Tesla wrote in a filing to the EPA:
As the recent assessment from the National Academy of Sciences makes clear, the proposal does not sufficiently evaluate the voluminous and rigorously established science, as well as the additionally developed scientific record since the 2009 endangerment finding that further solidifies the level of concern from climate change and the level of confidence that the established scientific community has over these findings.
The American automaker stated that the EPA has not made a sufficient argument based on legal or factual basis for reversing the vehicle emissions standards.
Electrek’s Take
Of course they haven’t, because there’s none. Allowing automakers to slow down the transition to zero-emission vehicle is going to be harful to Americans and the world. Period.
Tesla knows that, as it wrote in the filing, and its CEO too, but he appears to beleive that “white people reclaiming their nations” is more important than curbing climate change and air polution.
As for Tesla as a business, in the mid to long term, yes, it’s true that the removal of the tax credit might benefit Tesla. It won’t benefit Tesla’s mission as it will undeoutbedly slow down EV adoption in the US, but it will knock off some of Tesla’s competition in the US.
However, the EPA emission rules are detrimental to both Tesla’s mission and its business.
Hence why the company is speaking up on that. On the other hand, Musk is silent and just today made posts to back Trump’s authoritharian tendendices of using the justice system to go against political enemies.
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