South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson joined a comment letter that asks the Environmental Protection Agency to maintain a federal legal block on California’s Advanced Clean Fleets regulation.
The regulation attempts to impose an electric truck mandate on fleet owners, operators, and manufacturers—including trucking companies that drive one truck for as little as one day per year in California. The 24-state coalition argues that EPA should not allow California to exceed its statutory and regulatory authority by implementing an electric vehicle mandate that will disrupt the nation’s logistics and transportation industries.
“Even though this issue is specific to California, it would affect the rest of the states as well, because so many goods come into California and are then trucked to the rest of the country,” Attorney General Wilson said in an announcement. “Just as importantly, we cannot allow one state to dictate policy on an issue that’s reserved for the federal government.”
Under the Clean Air Act, only the federal government can set vehicle emissions standards, the group said. After California asked the EPA for a waiver to enforce Advanced Clean Fleets, the EPA solicited comments on whether to allow California to implement its regulation.
The states’ comment argues that granting a waiver would be unconstitutional because it would permit California to regulate motor vehicles in a way that none of the other states can. The comment also argues that no federal law permits California or the EPA to ban internal combustion vehicles altogether. Given California’s large population and access to ports for international trade, should the EPA allow Advanced Clean Fleets to be enforced, the regulation will significantly affect the supply chain nationwide.
In addition to Attorney General Wilson, attorneys general from the following states joined the comment to the EPA: Nebraska, Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
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