EMA Argues Unconstitutionality of California’s Advanced Clean Truck Waiver

EMA and 32 other groups filed their opening brief this week with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, challenging EPA’s authority to grant a waiver under the Clean Air Act to California to force the electrification of large trucks — from Ford F-250 pickups to tractor trailers — by 2035. California’s “Advanced Clean Trucks” rule is intended by both the State and the Biden administration to address global climate risks. A group of 19 states filed a separate brief in a consolidated case.

EMA and the other petitioners want the appeals court to find, in part, that forcing electrification of vehicles – here, trucks — raises a “major question” and thus requires clear congressional authorization, because forced electrification undoubtedly has “vast economic and political significance,” imposing billions in compliance costs and restructuring entire industries. The brief notes that Congress has approached the issue carefully, considering but rejecting multiple bills that would mandate electric vehicles. The brief also lays out the economic consequences of forced vehicle electrification.

“The Biden administration, through EPA, is allowing California to be a national regulator and to proceed with vehicle electrification based on technologically infeasible rules and containing unworkable and unrealistic timelines,” said EMA president Rob Underwood. “The effects, if left standing, will extend far beyond fuels marketing.”

The opening briefs mirror in many respects two other challenges to new EPA and California’s emission standards that EMA has joined and that remain pending before the D.C. Circuit.