A Senate panel has narrowly voted to overturn EPA’s decision to block California and more than a dozen other states, including Vermont, from limiting greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles.
The bill by California Democrat Barbara Boxer passed the Environment and Public Works committee 10 to 9, sending it to the full Senate.
In December, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen Johnson turned down California’s request for a Clean Air Act waiver that would have allowed the state to require automakers to cut global warming emissions by 30 percent in new cars and light trucks by 2016.
Boxer’s bill would deem the waiver approved.