Sullivan files resolution to overturn EPA decision on California at-berth ship emissions

Ocean-going vessels that dock in California could no longer be subject to the state's emissions limits at berth under a resolution Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan introduced Thursday.

Sullivan filed Senate Joint Resolution 209 on Aug. 6 in the 119th Congress. It invokes the Congressional Review Act to disapprove an Environmental Protection Agency decision titled "California State Nonroad Engine Pollution Control Standards; Ocean-Going Vessels At-Berth." The measure was read twice and referred to the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.

The stakes reach past one state rule. In a June 2025 statement on earlier disapproval resolutions, President Donald Trump said that "under the Congressional Review Act, the EPA cannot approve any future waivers that are 'substantially the same' as those disapproved in the joint resolutions."

EPA has said it evaluates California authorization requests under Clean Air Act criteria and must grant them unless it makes one of three specific findings. The agency also characterizes that authorization process as a lawful route for California to adopt and enforce emissions standards stronger than federal rules. If enacted, the resolution would disapprove the specific EPA decision authorizing the at-berth standards.

The parties closest to the rule are not on the bill record. The California Air Resources Board, which sought federal authorization for the state's emissions regulations, has argued EPA must grant approval absent statutory grounds to deny it. A disapproval would erase the legal basis for the rule at issue and could constrain future state emissions rulemaking. For engine and vessel operators and other regulated parties, federal authorization decisions determine whether California standards can be enforced, and a disapproval would remove or delay compliance obligations.

The filing states no rationale, and the bill record for the resolution contains no statement from Sullivan and no opposing voice. The referral to the environment committee is the latest documented action.