‘Extreme rules’: Top Arizona lawmaker leans on Trump EPA to fight California’s ‘radical’ climate agenda

FIRST ON FOX: One of the top Republican lawmakers in the key swing state of Arizona has sent a letter to President Donald Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requesting that the administration “prevent California from dictating the country’s energy policy.”

“California’s radical rules will harm Arizona families by increasing costs, impacting jobs, and limiting consumer choice,” Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen said in a letter to the EPA. “By taking swift action, EPA can reverse the Biden Administration’s erroneous approval of California’s extreme rules.”

In the letter, Petersen praised Trump’s reversal of burdensome regulations thus far, saying that his executive orders, including rolling back the EV mandate, are “important energy steps that will help usher in America’s Golden Age.”

However, Petersen warned in his letter that California environmental waivers and regulations create a ripple effect that harms other places in the country, including Arizona.

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“Victims of California’s war on fossil fuels include Arizonans who conduct business or make purchases in California,” Petersen wrote. “California’s radical rules also will indirectly affect Arizonans by increasing the cost, and decreasing the availability, of vehicles and products. Even Governor Katie Hobbs has been forced to recognize that California’s extreme policies can negatively impact Arizonans.”

“California’s radical rules raise serious legal concerns relating to equal state sovereignty19 and the major “questions doctrine, among many others. EPA should take immediate action to remove these legal concerns, starting by submitting the approvals for California’s rules to Congress for evaluation under the Congressional Review Act,” he continued. “According to legal experts, ‘Congress can quickly disapprove the waivers and send a resolution to the White House for presidential signature. Ballgame over.’ As those experts note, Congressional Review Act decisions are final and unassailable in court because the Act expressly provides that ‘[n]o determination, finding, action, or omission under this chapter shall be subject to judicial review.’”

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Petersen’s letter continued, “Like it did during President Trump’s first administration, EPA also should revoke California’s ability to independently regulate greenhouse gases.”

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Petersen said, “Over the past four years, the State of California and the Biden Administration teamed up to impose a radical environmental agenda on the United States, compromising our energy independence, crushing freedom of choice, and endangering our national security.”

“I, like many of my fellow Arizonans and Americans, am thrilled to see the Trump Administration putting an end to these schemes. The State of Arizona looks forward to assisting our new president, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, and Members of Congress in their efforts to prioritize and protect our country’s interests,” he said.

Petersen, who has filed paperwork to run for attorney general in Arizona, also sent a letter to Arizona’s congressional delegation voicing the same concerns.

“As President of the Arizona State Senate, I write to urge you to block radical California rules that ban gas-powered cars and leaf blowers,” he wrote. 

“These policies will harm Arizona families by increasing costs, impacting jobs, and limiting consumer choice. The Congressional Review Act empowers you to reverse the Biden Administration’s last-minute approval of these extreme policies, which I encourage you to do.”