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. It uses the Congressional Review Act to disapprove an EPA decision authorizing California's at-berth standards, and was referred to the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.

The stakes reach past one state rule. Under the Congressional Review Act, disapproving a rule can bar the agency from issuing future rules that are "substantially the same" — a point President Donald Trump underscored in a June 2025 statement on earlier disapproval resolutions, saying "the EPA cannot approve any future waivers that are 'substantially the same' as those disapproved in the joint resolutions." A disapproval here would not only erase the legal basis for the at-berth rule but could constrain California's future emissions rulemaking.

That authority is the heart of the fight. The EPA has said it evaluates California's requests under Clean Air Act criteria and must grant them unless it makes one of three specific findings, and it characterizes that process as a lawful route for California to adopt emissions standards stronger than federal rules. The California Air Resources Board, which sought the authorization, has argued the EPA must approve absent statutory grounds to deny it. For engine and vessel operators, those federal authorization decisions determine whether California's standards can be enforced at all.

The filing states no rationale, and the bill record contains no statement from Sullivan and no opposing voice.