The Arizona Legislature has filed suit against the Environmental Protection Agency, after the group issued pollution emissions standards for heavy-duty vehicles that will require a speedy, costly transition to electric-powered vehicles and potentially tax the state’s power grid.
Those standards, handed down in March, call for nearly 70% of all new vehicles and 25% of all new semi-trucks or similar heavy-duty vehicles sold in the United States to be electric, by the year 2032.
But Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen and House Speaker Ben Toma say that for the EPA to implement such a move— without ensuring the state has adequate charging infrastructure in place or the necessary power grid capacity— is a “massive federal government overreach” that will “guarantee to raise the costs of everything Arizonans purchase” and “threaten the state’s power supply.”
Petersen, Toma and the Arizona Trucking Association, along with their counsel, D. John Sauer and Justin D. Smith of James Otis Law Group in St. Louis, Mo., brought the litigation as a petition for review, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on Wednesday.
Nine months prior to the EPA’s issuance of the standards in question, Petersen and Toma submitted public comments critiquing them, claiming, among other points of contention, that the standards violated the Major Questions Doctrine by “trying to transform the automotive industry through rulemaking”, failed to illustrate their climate change impacts and relied on erroneous assumptions about vehicle costs and repair/maintenance estimates.
“EPA’s proposed rule for heavy-duty vehicles will cost jobs, increase the price of goods, hurt families, threaten our electric grid’s reliability and endanger our national security. We are both elected representatives of the people of Arizona, and citizens of Arizona who purchase and operate vehicles and participate in the Arizona economy on the same footing as other Arizonans. In both capacities, we have grave concerns about this reckless proposed rule,” Petersen and Toma said in June 2023.
In the wake of the EPA’s recent decision to enact those standards, their feelings have only solidified.
“These rules exceed the EPA’s statutory authority, are arbitrary, capricious and an abuse of discretion. In the absence of our Attorney General holding the Biden Administration accountable, the Legislature will gladly protect our citizens from this egregious abuse of power,” Petersen said in a statement.
Petersen’s sentiments were joined by those of President and CEO of the Arizona Trucking Association, Tony Bradley.
“The EPA’s tailpipe emissions rules prioritize politics over science, posing a greater threat to public health by inflating the cost of essential and everyday goods. Despite the trucking industry's remarkable progress – already reducing 98.5% of emissions – we’re dedicated to further advancements through innovation and investment,” Bradley added.
“Yet, the EPA’s impractical mandates, targeting a mere 1.5% of remaining emissions, burden us with unrealistic expectations and exorbitant costs. We proudly join the Arizona Legislature in challenging these detrimental regulations.”
The Legislature is also involved in a separate lawsuit brought against California officials in a federal court of that state, over an environmental initiative seeking to compel companies to phase out the use of internal combustion-powered trucks in their fleets and replace them with electric-powered ones.
From Legal Newsline: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com