Attorney General Bird Leads 13-State Lawsuit to Pull the Plug on Biden Electric Vehicle Handout and Defend Ethanol

April 12, 2024

Print This Article Share it With Friends

(Office of Iowa Attorney General) Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird today led a 13-state coalition in a lawsuit to pull the plug on Biden’s electric vehicle handout and defend ethanol. -- In Biden’s most recent attack in the war on gas vehicles, he is creating a rule that overstates the efficiency of electric cars by more than six-times. Biden’s illegal boost to electric vehicles hurts car owners, car manufacturers, liquid-fuel producers, and the electric grid.

The rule manipulates a more than 30-year-old incentive for car manufacturers that design cars that run on gasoline, ethanol, biodiesel, or compressed natural gas. The benefit that was intended to support farmers and ethanol producers is now being exploited to harm them by giving handouts to electric vehicles. This rule favoring electric vehicles hurts car-owners, roads, and carbon emissions across the country.

“We’re pulling the plug on Biden’s electric vehicle handout,” said Attorney General Bird. “Biden has made it clear that he will take every avenue possible to wage war on gas-powered vehicles. And Iowa ethanol is getting caught in the crossfire. I’m leading the charge in court to combat Biden’s extremist anti-energy agenda and protect Iowa ethanol and farmers.”

The States make the case that the electric vehicle handout violates the Administrative Procedure Act and exceeds the Department of Energy’s authority.

Iowa led 13-states in the lawsuit, including Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, and the American Free Enterprise Chamber of Commerce.

Read the full lawsuit here. READ MORE

Related articles

Attorney General Hilgers Joins 13-State Lawsuit to Stop the Biden Administration’s Hidden Electric Vehicle Subsidy and Defend Ethanol (International News Ledger)
GOV. PILLEN LAUDS BIOECONOMY IN OMAHA SPEECH (Brownfield Ag News)
States Challenge DOE Rule Revising The Petroleum-Equivalency Factor For EVs (Ethanol Producer Magazine)
Democrats go to court to defend Biden’s new clean car rule (E&E News PM)
Red states challenge Biden’s new clean car rule -- The new tailpipe emissions rule is "legally flawed and unrealistic," says West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, who is co-leading a group of colleagues asking a court to vacate the rule. (E&E News PM)
Attorney General Hilgers Files Brief to Stop Biden-Harris Administration’s Electric-Truck Mandate (Office of Nebraska Attorney General)

Excerpt from International News Ledger: Attorney General Mike Hilgers joined a 13-state coalition in a lawsuit to stop the Biden Administration’s hidden subsidy for electric vehicles and to defend ethanol.

In his most recent assault on gas vehicles, President Biden is creating a rule that overstates the efficiency of electric cars by more than six times. This illegal bolstering of electric vehicles negatively affects car owners, car manufacturers, liquid-fuel producers, and the electric grid.

The rule in question is a manipulation of an incentive designed to increase fuel efficiency and support car manufacturers that produce vehicles running on gasoline, ethanol, biodiesel, or compressed natural gas. This incentive, originally used to benefit farmers and ethanol producers, is now being misused to favor electric vehicles, causing harm to the very industries it benefitted.

“Despite the Biden Administration’s attempts to coerce automakers into producing more electric vehicles, fewer Americans are even interested in buying them. The Department of Energy abused its authority to create a new rule that would force automakers to produce more electric vehicles or else face fines. This rule undermines the free market, and if it stands, Nebraskans will be left with higher costs and worse vehicles,” stated Attorney General Hilgers.

The states argue that the electric vehicle handout violates the Administrative Procedure Act and exceeds the Department of Energy’s authority. READ MORE

Excerpt from E&E News PM: A coalition of Republican-led states is asking a federal appeals court to scrap the Biden administration’s new tailpipe rule for passenger cars and trucks, saying it exceeds EPA’s authority.

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, along with Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman and 23 other states, on Thursday asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to review EPA’s new climate regulation, find it unlawful and vacate it.

The Republicans charge that the rule — the strongest-ever tailpipe emissions clampdown — would remake the automotive market, pushing electric vehicle sales from 8.4 percent of total vehicle sales today to 67 percent by 2032.

“This rule is legally flawed and unrealistic, to say the least,” Morrisey said in a statement. “With the high prices of electric vehicles, this would have devastating effects in the daily lives of consumers — many of whom are already suffering from the burdens of historically high inflation.” READ MORE

Excerpt from E&E News PM: California is "not going to watch radical Republicans put the profits of big oil over the health of our planet," Gov. Gavin Newsom said. -- A coalition of Democratic-led states is countering Republican critics of the Biden administration’s new tailpipe rule for passenger cars and trucks, saying the regulation will improve the environment and boost public health.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D), Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) and the California Air Resources Board along with 22 other state attorneys general and four cities, filed a motion Monday to intervene in a challenge to the rule.

The defense comes as a group of Republican-led states led by Kentucky and West Virginia last week asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to scrap the new rule, saying it exceeds EPA’s authority.

Bonta and Newsom bashed the GOP-led lawsuit in a pair of statements, with Newsom saying the state is “not going to watch radical Republicans put the profits of big oil over the health of our planet.”

Bonta called the GOP-led lawsuit “just another attempt to take the country backwards in the fight against climate change and air pollution.” READ MORE

Tags

Wisconsin White House West Virginia Washington DC Washington Vermont Utah Transportation Fuels Policy--State Transportation Fuels Policy Texas Rhode Island Regulations-Federal Pennsylvania Oregon Oklahoma Ohio North Carolina New York New Mexico New Jersey Nebraska Montana Missouri Mississippi Minnesota Michigan Massachusetts Maryland Maine Litigation-Federal Kentucky Kansas Iowa internal combustion engine (ICE) Illinois Idaho Hawai'i Florida ethanol/bioethanol environmental policy Electric Car/Electric Vehicle (EV) Department of Energy (DOE) Delaware Connecticut Colorado California Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV) Arkansas Arizona Administrative Procedure Act

Comments are closed.