Twenty states joined together to challenge the Biden administration in court over California’s plan to phase out many traditionally-fueled vehicles. California seeks to ban the use of most gasoline trucks by 2025.
The crux of the lawsuit revolves around the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) allowance of the Golden State’s new regulation.
Missouri is the latest state to join in the lawsuit, with state Attorney General Andrew Bailey (R) arguing that the ban was illegal. He said that the law would impact Missouri truckers and that “Joe Biden is partnering with California to attempt to upend Missouri’s economy through
The exception for California was allowed by the EPA under the provisions of the Clean Air Act.
In addition, the state announced the ban on the sale of most new gasoline-powered cars by 2035.
The conservative attorneys general argued that the California ban would be used in time to ban traditional fuels in trucking nationwide.
West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey (R) said that the EPA’s current interpretation of the Clean Air Act “simply leaves California with a slice of its sovereign authority that Congress withdraws from every other state.”
He said that the EPA could not “selectively waive the Act’s preemption for California alone because that favoritism violates the states’ equal sovereignty.”
California’s truck ban is reckless, and that’s why I am once again challenging a Biden policy. #ksleg https://t.co/NVXbcO5aIK
— Kris W. Kobach (@KrisKobach1787) June 8, 2023
California received an earlier waiver in 2013 under the Obama administration to enact stricter vehicle standards, which was reversed by former President Donald Trump in 2019.
EPA Administrator said that reinstating the waiver earlier this year was the restoration of “an approach that for years has helped advance clean technologies and cut air pollution for people not just in California but for the U.S. as a whole.”
California is not the only state to pursue a ban on gasoline and diesel-powered vehicles. Both New York and Washington announced their own versions of California’s example.
New York also became the first state in the union to bar many new buildings from being able to hook up to natural gas.
