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 serve as a foreshadowing of 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 to 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.
Such a rapid phaseout of gas-powered vehicles, the Republican officials said, would jeopardize consumer safety, economic stability and national security.
“Forcing that market transformation goes far beyond the statutory limits Congress set,” they wrote. “And it is bad policy.”
Industry analysts, automakers and Big Oil also have pushed back against the proposed rule as unfeasible in such a short window.
In separate comments submitted to the EPA, the American Petroleum Institute said such a regulation would be a “de facto ban” on internal combustion engines “that will eliminate competition, distort the market and restrict consumer choice, while being potentially more costly to taxpayers.”
The U.S. auto industry’s top trade group, Alliance for Automotive Innovation, told the EPA that the proposal was “out of whack” and “neither reasonable nor achievable in the time frame provided.”
The comments from the attorneys general were led by Kentucky’s Daniel Cameron and Mr. Morrisey, both of whom are running for governor.
The 23 other signatories are from Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Wyoming.
• Ramsey Touchberry can be reached at rtouchberry@washingtontimes.com.