Sponsor
Mike Lee
Senator · R-UT
Senator · R-UT
The bill protects current fuel choices and short-term grid and vehicle-market stability, but does so by constraining EPA authority in ways that could raise air-pollution risks, slow adoption of cleaner technologies, and reduce incentives for clean-energy investment over the long term.
Utilities, grid operators, and communities (especially rural areas and homeowners) face fewer federally mandated fuel-switching requirements, reducing the risk of sudden operational changes and helping preserve short-term electric-grid reliability.
Owners and sellers of internal-combustion vehicles (drivers, dealerships, and transport workers) are protected from EPA actions that would restrict sale or use of such vehicles, preserving current market access and consumer choice.
People in polluted communities (including children and people with disabilities, and many rural residents) could face higher exposure to air pollution because the EPA's ability to set stricter emissions standards would be curtailed.
Taxpayers, homeowners, and the broader public could face higher long-term climate and health costs because limits on requiring costly or commercially unavailable technologies and on vehicle electrification would slow adoption of cleaner technologies and greenhouse-gas reductions.
Manufacturers, utilities, and clean-energy investors could see reduced regulatory certainty, which may discourage investment in low-emission technologies and slow growth in clean-energy sectors.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Restricts EPA from issuing regulations that limit vehicle/engine sales or use, force fuel switching, reduce grid reliability, or mandate infeasible or cost‑prohibitive technologies.
Official title: Amend the Clean Air Act to preserve consumer vehicle choice, protect the electric grid, and impose limits on regulations under that Act, and for other purposes.
Introduced June 24, 2026 by Mike Lee · Last progress June 24, 2026
Prohibits the EPA Administrator from issuing regulations, waivers, or authorizations that would restrict sale or use of any type of vehicle or engine, force fuel-switching at power plants, reduce electric-grid reliability, or require technologies that are commercially unavailable, cost‑prohibitive without subsidies, or infeasible due to geography, infrastructure, or other practical limits. The amendment narrows EPA authority by barring rules the bill says would significantly expand the agency's power beyond congressional intent. The change rewrites language in the Clean Air Act's section on EPA authority to add those specific limits; it does not create new funding or program authorizations and contains a statutory short title only.