DES MOINES, Iowa – Attorney General Brenna Bird led a coalition of 19 states challenging the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) decision to allow California to ban diesel trucks. They argue California’s Advanced Clean Trucks regulation is in violation of the Clean Air Act and other federal laws. That ban forces truckers to buy electric trucks and Bird says will regulate trucking out of existence through mandating net-zero emissions standards.
The Biden Administration gave California the authority to force most buses, vans, trucks, and tractor-trailers be electric by 2035. Currently, just two percent of heavy trucks sold in the United States are electric.
The ban on traditional trucks is part of the Biden Administration’s aggressive climate change agenda, which hikes prices for businesses and consumers. Costs for electric trucks already start at about $100,000 and can reach the high six figures. And even worse—California’s new regulations are setting the standard for the rest of the country. Eight other states have already adopted California’s truck ban, and more are considering it. That makes California a major decision-maker for the future of the national trucking industry. California’s truck ban will not only increase costs, but it will devastate the demand for liquid fuels, such as biodiesel, and cut trucking jobs across the nation. Iowa’s trucking industry currently provides almost 100,000 jobs—that is almost one in thirteen jobs in the state.
“The EPA and California have no right or legal justification to force truckers to follow their radical climate agenda,” said Attorney General Bird. “America would grind to a halt without truckers who deliver our food, clothes and other necessities. But rather than support our hard-working truckers, Biden continues to empty their wallets and force them to drive electric trucks for his radical climate change agenda. Iowa isn’t going to take a backseat as the EPA and California try to regulate truckers out of business. We’re pushing back.”
Iowa led the lawsuit joined by Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Ohio, South Carolina, Utah, and West Virginia.
Read the petition below:
Iowa-v-EPA-petition
