Twenty-Five State AGs Sue EPA Over Emissions Mandates

Written by Leslie Eastman on April 30, 2024. Posted in Current News

Early in Biden’s disaster-laden term, his Environmental Protection Agency proposed economy-crushing liberty-limiting rules that would theoretically eliminate carbon dioxide emissions from the nation’s electricity sector by 2040

U.S. power plant owners warned these plans were unworkable, relying too heavily on costly technologies that are not yet proven at scale.

Additionally, America’s car customers are opting not to purchase one of the magic solutions to the nonproblem: electric vehicles.

The market has decided that EVs aren’t worth owning until there is a charging infrastructure network that can accommodate the entire American public, an electric grid that can handle capacity, enough natural resources to build models at a moderate price, and technology that doesn’t ignite when it gets wet or won’t start when it gets too cold.

How bad are these new, economy-crushing, unworkable rules from the Biden EPA? So bad that the attorneys general from half the states within our wonderful union are now suing the agency over the emissions mandates.

The lawsuit challenging the regulations for passenger vehicles, finalized on March 20 by President Joe Biden’s administration, was filed by attorneys general from states led by Kentucky and West Virginia in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

The EPA rules aim to cut fleetwide tailpipe emissions for cars and light trucks by nearly 50 percent over 2026 levels in 2032, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 7.2 billion tons through 2055.

Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman said the rules would harm the American economy, threaten jobs and raise prices while undermining the U.S. electricity grid. Coleman also said there is very little consumer interest in electric vehicles in his state.

The lawsuit is targeting Biden EPA’s new regulations, which is actually a rollback of a previous, more ambitious EPA rule that was aimed at pushing automakers to make even more electric vehicles.

The requirements rely heavily on a market willing to purchase EVs.

The new rule is aimed at increasing the proportion of new vehicle sales that are EVs or hybrids. The agency is attempting to boost EVs to make up between 35 percent and 56 percent of new car sales by 2032.

For hybrids they are targeting between 13 and 36 percent of all new car sales. In 2023, EVs made up only 7.6 percent of new car sales.

The way the rule seeks to accomplish this boost in sales for EVs and hybrids is by requiring auto manufacturers to adopt “stringent vehicle emissions standards” for cars made between the model years 2027 and 2032.

Criticism of the EPA’s ridiculous rules crosses party lines and spans a wide array of industries.

The EPA’s regulations have been heavily criticized by state officials, Republican and Democratic lawmakers, agriculture industry groups like the National Corn Growers Association and energy associations, such as the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers and the American Petroleum Institute.

In 2023, 9.5 percent of new, light-duty vehicle sales were EVs, up from seven percent in 2022 and 4.3 percent in 2021, according to data from the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, an industry group that represents major automakers.

At the same time, EVs remain more expensive than traditional, gas-powered cars.

Additionally, the share of Americans who said they are considering an EV purchase has declined from 55 to 44 percent year-over-year, according to a Gallup poll conducted in March.

Calls placed to the EPA seeking comment were not immediately returned.

For too long, the EPA has used ginned-up fears of global warming and cancer based on questionable studies from entities that get government funding to find these results.

As I noted recently, Big Government is responsible for the “climate crisis.”

See more here climatechangedispatch

Header image: Environmental Protection Agency

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