(Washington Times) Republican attorneys general from 25 states are warning the Biden administration that a proposal to force carmakers to go electric in the name of fighting climate change is unlawful, a potential precursor for a legal challenge from GOP officials.
The officials told the Environmental Protection Agency that its proposed emissions reduction rule for tailpipes that critics have described as a “de facto ban” on gas-powered vehicles is “unlawful, unwise and unsustainable.”
“While billed as tightening existing standards for ‘criteria pollutant and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from’ certain motor vehicles … the proposed rule is, more accurately, the next phase in a top-to-bottom attempt to restructure the automobile industry,” the attorneys general wrote to the EPA in a letter released Thursday under the proposal’s public comment period. “Congress did not give EPA that power.”
In their 20-page letter, the attorneys general reference 17 previous or ongoing court cases — many against the EPA — to bolster their argument that the administration is overstepping its legal authority. Their objections foreshadow how the officials would shape a legal challenge, should the proposal be finalized.
The administration is already facing other environmental lawsuits brought by similar coalitions of Republican attorneys general. Those challenges are against the EPA‘s so-called WOTUS rule that increases federal authority over small waterways like streams and wetlands; the EPA allowing California to set its own vehicle emission standards stronger than the federal government’s; and the EPA‘s greenlight of a California regulation to transition diesel trucks and semis to electric.
The Supreme Court ruled last year in West Virginia v. EPA, a case brought by West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and cited by his fellow Republicans, that the agency had limits in regulating power plant emissions.
The EPA‘s vehicle emissions rule would result in stringent emissions-slashing for light- and medium-duty vehicles starting in 2027, with the administration saying automakers’ sales must be 60% electric by 2030 and 67% EV by 2032. The effort is part of President Biden’s green energy agenda to combat climate change.
