Rep. Vince Fong is pushing a bill to undo an EPA approval that lets California force ships at port to shut off diesel engines or face huge fines, a rule he calls a hidden tax that drives up prices nationwide. His move targets the Vessel At Berth rule enforced by the California Air Resources Board and backed by the Biden administration, arguing the costs are passed straight to consumers and small businesses. Critics say the infrastructure simply isn’t ready, and Republicans warn the policy could set a dangerous precedent for other states. The debate lands as families already feel stretched by higher prices and as Washington weighs whether federal oversight should check state overreach.
The rule at issue requires many large vessels to plug into shore power or use other approved emissions strategies while docked, something enforced by the California Air Resources Board after a 2020 authorization. Enforcement can mean staggering fines for noncompliance, and shipping companies say the penalties add up fast. Fong frames this as a policy problem with national consequences, not just a California quarrel, because nearly half of U.S. container traffic moves through West Coast ports.
“It’s a massive hidden climate tax that’s being imposed on every single ship that’s coming into California. And so all of those costs now are getting passed on to consumers,” Fong told Fox News Digital in an interview. Those words drive the Republican argument: this is policy dressed up as environmentalism that ends up functioning like a surcharge on everyday goods. Ports such as Los Angeles and Long Beach handle enormous volume, so any added cost there ripples across supply chains.
Under the regulation, vessels that keep running their diesel engines instead of switching to state-approved electric power can face tens of thousands of dollars in fines per day. Ships need power while docked for lights, climate control and basic systems, which is why the transition hinges on shore-side infrastructure. Shipping lines point out they cannot instantly convert fleets or guarantee shore power availability at every berth, creating a gap between the rule and practical reality.
Fong argues that the mismatch between the mandate and on-the-ground capacity means penalties become an operating cost that gets funneled to buyers and businesses. “When you order something on Amazon, when a small business is buying product to put products on their shelves, when grocery stores are trying to get products into the stores, when you’re trying to buy gasoline — all of those things come through either the port or it comes through some type of mechanism through a ship,” he said. Republicans say that kind of cost push is regressive because it hits families and small businesses hardest.
The Biden administration’s approval is central to how this rule works nationwide, which is why Fong’s bill looks to strip that federal blessing and force a congressional review. The Trump administration previously asked Congress to scrutinize the rule in July 2026, and a Senate companion bill by Sen. Dan Sullivan backs similar concerns about consumer impact. From a Republican standpoint, the move is about stopping expensive, unilateral state mandates that end up functioning like national policy by default.
Washington Republicans warn about precedent: if California can secure federal authorization for aggressive local rules that affect commerce across state lines, other states may follow. “You have shipping companies that have paid hundreds of millions of dollars in penalties, if you aggregate it all. And as this goes on, this could ripple throughout the United States,” Fong said. “You have other states now that are looking at California and say, well, if they’re gonna do it, we might do it too. So this could grow exponentially.”
That warning is part political and part practical: lawmakers pressing Fong’s bill argue the country needs consistent national rules for interstate commerce and trade, not a patchwork of state-level mandates that impose hidden fees. The timing matters because pocketbook issues are front and center for voters, and transportation costs feed into everything from groceries to new construction. Republicans pushing this legislation frame it as protecting consumers and supply chains from a stealth cost increase thinly disguised as environmental policy.
