19 States Target EPA Waiver for California’s Advanced Clean Trucks Rule

June 08, 2023

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by John Kingston (Freight Waves) Overwhelmingly red states challenge waiver on rule governing what OEMs must sell into the state by 2042 -- Nineteen states have sought appellate court review in a challenge to the Environmental Protection Agency waiver granted to California’s Advanced Clean Trucks Rule.

The petition was filed Monday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

The relatively short filing challenges the waiver that was granted by the EPA and posted to the Federal Register April 6. That waiver was the latest in a long history of the EPA granting California waivers to pursue its own emissions and pollution standards, which is permitted under federal law dating back to the ’60s.

The filing states that federal law establishes the D.C. Court of Appeals as an “exclusive venue” for challenges to agency actions that could be deemed “nationally applicable” or if an action has “nationwide scope or effect.” There is little else in the filing beyond an attachment of the Federal Register publication of the waiver decision.

Ultimately at issue in the filing by the states is a major question: With some other states having vowed to follow California’s lead on clean vehicles and other emission rules, does California effectively set the standard for the entire country? Original equipment manufacturers are generally loath to run two separate production lines: one for California and its followers and the other for the rest of the nation.

Fourteen other states, California and the District of Columbia in 2020 signed a memorandum of understanding that pledged a pathway to zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) by 2050, though California’s rules call for the transition to be completed prior to that. For example, the “Milestones” that govern the transition in the Advanced Clean Fleets (ACF) rule – the partner legislation to the ACT – call for 100% ZEVs in the affected fleets by 2042.

The states in the legal action against the EPA are Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming. While some of those states have Democratic governors — Louisiana, Kansas and Kentucky — all have Republican attorneys general.

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The Advanced Clean Trucks rule goes hand in hand with California’s recently approved Advanced Clean Fleets rule. The ACT governs the types of trucks that OEMs must supply to the state; the ACF rule lays out a pathway for fleets to phase out internal combustion engine trucks in favor of zero-emission vehicles, either through direct mandates or by setting a timetable for trucks’ “useful life,” after which they must be removed from the road.

California has not requested a waiver for the Clean Fleets rule, and there is no consensus among observers of the process whether the state needs one for the ACF.

The action taken by the states also targets the EPA waiver granted to the warranty extension rule adopted by the California Air Resources Board in 2018. That rule mandates longer warranty periods on truck engines. CARB, in a statement on its website from January 2022, said of the rule that “the purpose of longer warranty periods for emission control-related equipment on heavy duty trucks is to better ensure they perform as intended for the hundreds of thousands of miles trucks are typically driven.” READ MORE

Attorney General Brenna Bird joins lawsuits against Biden (Atlantic News Telegraph)

Attorney General Bird Challenges California Truck Ban (Office of Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird)

GOP States, Industries Sue EPA To Block Waivers For California Truck Rules (Inside EPA)

Missouri Attorney General joins 19 state coalition challenging California truck ban (KTTN)

New California clean air rules may force many port truckers leave (KTVU; includes VIDEO)

Will cleaner diesel trucks matter in ZEV world? Progress cited by Diesel Technology Forum is not going to impress California and its followers, which want zero emissions, not just a big reduction (Freight Waves; includesAUDIO)

Nebraska sues four major semitruck manufacturers nationwide for antitrust violations (Nebraska Examiner)

Excerpt Atlantic News Telegraph: The new regulations would require manufacturers to sell higher quantities of electric trucks, buses and other large vehicles starting in 2024, with a requirement for between 40% and 75% of vehicles sold be zero-emission by 2035. It’s one of multiple steps California, a state struggling with heavy air pollution, is taking to reduce vehicle emissions, but it’s a hefty ask: less than 3% of heavy trucks in the country were electric in 2022.

Bird criticized the rules in a Tuesday letter, saying the EPA under the Biden administration was pursing an “aggressive climate change agenda” that seeks to force truckers to buy electric vehicles. She said the new regulations are illegal under the federal Clean Air Act and other federal laws, and will increase costs for businesses and consumers.

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Notably for Iowa, a widespread switch to electric vehicles would reduce the demand for liquid fuels, including ethanol and biodiesel. In a news release, the state attorney general said California is a “major decision-maker for the future of the national trucking industry,” and that these state regulations would have national impacts on the trucking industry.

California’s moves have also been adopted by other states, with more considering higher zero-emissions standards for manufacturers. Bird said the lawsuit against the EPA, a petition for review, challenges the rules on the basis that the decision will have a “nationwide scope or effect.”

“Iowa isn’t going to take a backseat as the EPA and California try to regulate truckers out of business,” Bird said. “We’re pushing back.” READ MORE

Excerpt from Office of Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird: The Biden Administration gave California the authority to force most buses, vans, trucks, and tractor-trailers be electric by 2035. Currently, just 2% of heavy trucks sold in the United States are electric.

The ban on traditional trucks is part of the Biden Administration’s aggressive climate change agenda, which hikes prices for businesses and consumers. Costs for electric trucks already start at about $100,000 and can reach the high six figures. And even worse—California’s new regulations are setting the standard for the rest of the country. Eight other states have already adopted California’s truck ban, and more are considering it. That makes California a major decision-maker for the future of the national trucking industry. California’s truck ban will not only increase costs, but it will devastate the demand for liquid fuels, such as biodiesel, and cut trucking jobs across the nation. Iowa’s trucking industry currently provides almost 100,000 jobs—that is almost one in thirteen jobs in the state.

“The EPA and California have no right or legal justification to force truckers to follow their radical climate agenda,” said Attorney General Bird. “America would grind to a halt without truckers who deliver our food, clothes and other necessities. But rather than support our hard-working truckers, Biden continues to empty their wallets and force them to drive electric trucks for his radical climate change agenda. Iowa isn’t going to take a backseat as the EPA and California try to regulate truckers out of business. We’re pushing back.”

California’s Advanced Clean Trucks regulation is in violation of the Clean Air Act and other federal laws.

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Read the full petition for review here. READ MORE

Excerpt from KTTN: Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey announced that his office joined a coalition of 19 states in challenging the Environmental Protection Agency’s (“EPA”) decision to allow California to illegally ban existing tractor-trailers and heavy-duty vehicles by forcing truckers to buy zero-emission trucks and mandating net-zero emissions standards, which would regulate the current trucking industry out of existence.

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The Biden Administration gave authority to California to force most buses, vans, trucks, and tractor-trailers to be zero emission by 2035. The ban is part of the Biden Administration’s aggressive climate change agenda, which hikes prices for businesses and consumers. Costs for electric trucks already start at about $100,000 and can reach the high six figures. California’s new regulations are setting the standard for the rest of the country, as eight other states have already adopted California’s truck ban under EPA’s permission, and more are considering it.

California’s Advanced Clean Trucks regulation violates the Clean Air Act and other federal laws as it would have a “nationwide scope or effect” that would harm other states and their trucking companies.

The truck ban will not only increase costs, but will devastate the demand for liquid fuels, such as biodiesel, and cut trucking jobs across the nation. More than 70% of Missouri communities depend exclusively on trucks to move their goods, and there are more than 12,000 trucking companies in Missouri, most of them small, family-owned businesses.

Currently, just 2% of heavy trucks sold in the United States are electric. READ MORE

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Wyoming West Virginia warranty waiver Utah trucks Transportation Fuels Policy--State South Carolina Oklahoma Ohio North Dakota Nebraska Montana Missouri Mississippi Louisiana Litigation-Federal Kentucky Kansas Iowa internal combustion engine (ICE)/gasoline engine ban internal combustion engine (ICE) Indiana Georgia Fleets EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) environmental policy Clean Trucks Plan California Air Resources Board (CARB) California Auto manufacturer Arkansas Alabama Advanced Clean Trucks Rule Advanced Clean Fleets Rule

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