Days after Oklahoma and 24 other states sued the Biden administration over its EV mandates, another state joined the cause.
Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon announced this week that Wyoming joined the lawsuit against the Biden administration over a new rule issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration imposing new standards requiring auto manufacturers to produce electric vehicles.
“Our federal government should not be issuing overreaching mandates that manipulate the free market,” Gordon said in a Monday press release. “Wyoming residents drive thousands of miles each year through remote areas. They should be able to decide what vehicle technology is most suitable for their needs, not the Biden administration.”
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, who already had filed suit in May challenging efforts by the Biden Administration and the state of California to impose electric vehicle mandates nationwide on truck owners and operators, was among two dozen who filed suit June 26. The new suit named National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Sophie Shulman who is the Deputy Administrator of the NHTSA and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
The states involved include: the State of West Virginia, the Commonwealth of Kentucky, the States of Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, South
Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the State of Wyoming.
Their latest challenge stated, “Petitioners will show that the final rule exceeds the agency’s statutory authority and otherwise is arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, and not in accordance with law. Petitioners thus ask that this Court declare unlawful and vacate the Deputy Administrator’s final action.”
Their lawsuit is a direct challenge of the regulation entitled “Corporate Average Fuel Economy Standards for Passenger Cars and Light Trucks for Model Years 2027 and Beyond and Fuel
Efficiency Standards for Heavy-Duty Pickup Trucks and Vans for Model Years 2030 and Beyond,” 89 Fed. Reg. 52,540 (June 24, 2024).
In his May lawsuit, Drummond stated, ““These outrageous mandates would force massive costs on commercial trucking that, in turn, will be passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices on anything and everything. These initiatives would upend the free market system by forcing companies to purchase electric trucks they clearly do not want. The resulting blow to the economy would be tremendous.”
The May lawsuit targeted the EPA and its rule imposing stringent tailpipe emissions standards for heavy-duty vehicles that effectively forces manufacturers to produce more electric trucks and fewer internal-combustion trucks. Right now, electric trucks — and the infrastructure needed to support them — are virtually nonexistent. They also have shorter ranges and require longer stops.
