Republican Attorneys General Sue Biden Administration Over Truck Emissions Rules
On Monday, a significant collection of Republican solicitors general filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration and California over new truck emissions regulations. Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers is heading a coalition of Republican attorneys general who filed a petition with the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to overturn an Environmental Protection Agency rule that limits truck emissions.
A related case against California alleges that a phased-in ban on internal combustion trucks is unlawful and will harm the US economy. According to Hilgers, the EPA and California laws “will devastate the trucking and logistics industry, raise prices for customers, and impact an untold number of jobs across Nebraska and the country.”
“There is not one truck charging station in the state of Nebraska,” Hilgers subsequently told reporters. “Trying to take that industry, which was built up over decades with diesel and fossil fuels-based infrastructure, and transforming it to an electric-based infrastructure – it’s probably not feasible.”
According to EPA officials, the rigorous emissions requirements will help clean up some of the country’s major emitters of greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. The new EPA guidelines are set to go into force for model years 2027-2032, and the government claims they will save up to 1 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions over the next three decades.
Emissions regulations might help an estimated 72 million people in the United States who live near freight routes used by trucks and other heavy vehicles and incur a disproportionate burden of harmful air pollution, the EPA has stated.
On Monday, an EPA representative declined to comment on the legal challenge to the new standards, citing pending litigation. Republican solicitors general are challenging California laws that would prohibit large trucks and buses powered by diesel from being sold in the state beginning in 2036.
An email requesting comment from California’s Air Resources Board was not immediately returned Monday. California has been aggressive in its efforts to free itself of fossil fuels, implementing new restrictions in recent years to phase out gas-powered automobiles, trucks, trains, and lawn equipment in the country’s most populous state. Industries and Republican officials in other states are fighting back.
In 2022, another group of Republican-led states challenged California’s right to impose pollution limits that are harsher than federal regulations. The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit concluded last month that the states failed to demonstrate how California’s emissions requirements will raise the cost of gas-powered automobiles in their jurisdictions.
The following states have joined Nebraska’s latest case against the EPA: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
The following states have joined Nebraska’s lawsuit against California: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming.