States criticize California and truck manufacturers’ new emissions deal as ‘insane’.

A Coalition of U.S. States Challenges California’s New Emissions Deal

A coalition of U.S. states is taking aim at the new emissions deal announced by California regulators and trucking manufacturers this week, vowing on Friday that they will challenge the plan in court.

The Clean Truck Partnership

Under the Clean Truck Partnership deal announced Thursday, the California Air Resources Board agreed to grant trucking manufacturers new flexibility to meet emissions requirements while still reaching California’s emissions goals.

The agreement allows heavy-duty trucking manufacturers to sell new gas-powered trucks in California through 2036 and allows them to align their rules for nitrogen oxide emissions with the Environmental Protection Agency, whose 2027 standards are slightly less stringent than the ones set by the state.

In return, truck manufacturers agreed to implement the emissions reduction plan regardless of any court ruling that might undermine California’s authority.

The deal, which took three months to negotiate, is considered key to helping California thwart a costly legal challenge from manufacturers associations, which had argued that the state’s proposed emissions targets were neither technologically nor financially feasible for heavy-duty vehicles.

The language of the deal specifically prohibits them from doing so, in fact, noting that manufacturers “commit to meeting CARB’s zero-emission and criteria pollutant regulations in the state regardless of any attempts by other entities to challenge California’s authority.”

But no such promises were made by other states, whose leaders have taken umbrage with the Clean Truck Partnership, including Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, who has already vowed to take the Biden administration to court over the truck emissions.

In an op-ed published Friday on Fox News Digital, Bird noted that California’s massive economy, the fifth largest in the world, also means its emissions standards have an outsize influence on U.S. trucking manufacturers, including how much of its fleet it will electrify.

California’s pollution rules also have a disproportionate impact on the rest of the country: As of Friday afternoon, eight other U.S. states have already adopted or said they are working to adopt California’s truck emissions regulations.

“States are forced to comply with California’s zero-emissions standards to compete in the market,” Bird said Friday. “This incentivizes truck manufacturing companies to spike prices for gas and diesel vehicles so that Americans won’t buy them.”

She also noted the costs of heavy-duty electric trucks, which are two to three times more expensive than traditional gas-powered vehicles. The time required for a full charge can also take up to 10 hours, threatening to place additional strain on aging power grids.

“And if we have learned anything from California’s rolling blackouts, it’s that our power grid isn’t ready to support the sharp influx of electric vehicles,” she added. “The issues are endless.”

Challenges to California’s Trucking Standards

This isn’t the first time the Golden State’s trucking standards have put it at odds with other Republican-led states.

Last month, Bird and 18 other U.S. attorneys general filed a court challenge against California’s Advanced Clean Trucks, arguing that the rule is a violation of the Clean Air Act.

The petition was filed to the U.S. District Court of Appeals and was signed by attorneys general in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

“The EPA and California have no right or legal justification to force truckers to follow their radical climate agenda,” Bird said in a statement released alongside the filing. “America would grind to a halt without truckers who deliver our food, clothes and other necessities.”

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases