Attorney General Gentner Drummond is urging the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to maintain a federal legal block on California’s Advanced Clean Fleets regulation. That regulation illegally attempts to impose an electric-truck mandate on fleet owners, operators, and manufacturers — including trucking companies that drive one truck for as little as one day per year in the Golden State.
In a letter to EPA Administrator Michael Regan, Drummond and a multistate coalition of attorneys general argue that the federal agency should not allow California to exceed its statutory and regulatory authority by implementing an electric-vehicle mandate that will disrupt the nation’s logistics and transportation industries.
“This mandate overreaches and would do significant harm to the fossil fuels industry and spur chaos to the supply line from coast to coast,” said Drummond. “The far-left climate agenda being pushed by California must not be allowed to upend the rest of the United States. In effect, it is the tail wagging the dog."
In June, he joined a 19-state coalition challenging the California electric-truck mandate in federal court.
Under the Clean Air Act, only the federal government can set emissions standards for vehicles. After California asked the EPA for a waiver to enforce Advanced Clean Fleets, the EPA solicited comments on whether to allow California to implement its regulation.
The states’ comment argues that granting a waiver would be unconstitutional because it would permit California to regulate motor vehicles in a way that none of the other states can. The comment also argues that nothing in federal law permits California or the EPA to ban internal-combustion vehicles altogether. Given California’s large population and access to ports for international trade, should the EPA allow Advanced Clean Fleets to be enforced, the regulation will significantly disrupt the supply chain nationwide.
In addition to Drummond, attorneys general from the following states joined the comment to the EPA: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming.
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