ZETA has actively engaged in the regulatory process supporting the implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA).
ZETA has also submitted several comments in support of IRA implementation, particularly with regards to the consumer and manufacturing tax credits included in the law. These include the following comments to the Department of Treasury:
ZETA has also submitted comments to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as part of EPA’s updates to the Renewable Fuel Standard, including comments supporting the creation of Renewable Identification Numbers from renewable electricity (eRINs) that would increase the amount of renewable energy used to support transportation.
ZETA has also submitted comments as part of EPA’s work on other programs, including:
ZETA endorsed a letter to Michael Regan, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, to finalize robust light-duty vehicle greenhouse gas emissions standards before the end of this year that achieve climate and air quality benefits at least as great as those of the most protective option proposed by EPA for consideration. The letter asks the EPA to work with environmental justice communities to ensure they are included in the rule’s decision-making process. The letter received signatures from 95 Democratic offices across the House and Senate.
ZETA joined the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, Computer & Communications Industry Association, and Save our Standards in a letter urging Congress to pass the Defending American Patents Act (DAPA) in order to protect American patent law, innovation, and competitiveness.
ZETA wrote a letter to the Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service, and the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation advocating for relief from the geographic targeting requirement for taxpayers planning to claim the tax credit for alternative fuel vehicle refueling property under IRC Sec. 30C.
In this letter, ZETA, the Alliance for Auto Innovation, the Consumer Technology Association, and TechNet urged members of Congress to consider the redundancy of mandating AM radios in all new vehicles.
ZETA joined 38 other organizations in a letter to Congress opposing S.J.Res.11, a joint resolution aiming to cancel a crucial update to nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions for heavy-duty vehicles beginning in model-year 2027.
ZETA wrote to the House and Senate Appropriations Committees requesting funding for several critical programs and offices that support electrification. This was followed by additional joint letters through the CHARGE Coalition and Third Way.
ZETA joined 38 other organizations to urge Congress to oppose S.J.Res.11, a joint resolution aiming to cancel a crucial update to nitrogen oxides emissions for heavy-duty vehicles beginning in model-year 2027.
ZETA joined 35 other organizations in a letter to EPA urging the agency to adopt the strongest Heavy Duty Vehicle (HDV) and Light / Medium Duty Vehicle (L/MDV) standards. The letter argued that Latino/e communities are disproportionately burdened by vehicle air pollution and that setting these standards will help reach the urgent goal to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 60% by 2030.
Summary: This bill provides incentives to bolster domestic printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturing, research, and development to reduce supply chain disruptions, address national security concerns related to foreign PCB production, and enhance America's economic leadership. The bill establishes a financial assistance program modeled on the CHIPS Act within the Commerce Department for American facilities manufacturing or researching PCBs; provides a 25% tax credit for entities that purchase American-manufactured PCBs; requires a Presidential determination for single financial awards over $300 million; includes waste, fraud, and abuse protections; and authorizes appropriations of $3 billion to carry out the program.
Summary: This bill amends title 23, United States Code, with respect to the operation of certain specialized hauling vehicles on the Interstate System, and for other purposes. The bill states that a State may not prohibit the operation of stinger-steered combination automobile transporters with gross weight of 88,000 pounds or less on any segment of the Interstate System and certain qualifying Federal-aid primary highways. It also requires States to allow an up to 10 percent increase on the axle weight limitations outlined above.
Summary: This bill provides a new tax credit for the domestic production of rare earth magnets. The magnets must be manufactured or produced in the ordinary course of the taxpayer's trade or business, and the credit is disallowed if any rare earth material component used to produce such magnets is produced in a non-allied foreign nation.
The bill defines a rare earth magnet as a permanent magnet composed of an alloy of neodymium, iron, and boron, or an alloy of samarium and cobalt, which may also include other material.
Summary: This bill amends the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993, pertaining to the Mining Law, to address the Rosemont Decision, which requires mining plans to include only public lands proved to contain economically-valuable minerals, even if those lands are planned to be used for mining-support activities such as waste or processing sites. The bill reaffirms a practice and previous legal interpretation that some public land use under a mining claim inherently accompanies exploration and extraction activities for other mining-support activities.
Summary: This bill requires the Secretary of Energy to provide technology grants to strengthen domestic mining education. The grant program awards competitive funding to mining schools for the purpose of recruiting and educating the next generation of mining engineers and other qualified professionals to meet the future energy and mineral needs of the United States. Mining schools may use grant funds to recruit students and to enhance and support programs related to critical mineral extraction, reclamation technology, mineral extraction methods that reduce environmental and human impacts. The bill authorizes $10,000,000 to carry out this section for each of fiscal years 2024 through 2031.
