Nebraska AG Leading Lawsuits Challenging Electric-Vehicle Mandates for Trucking Companies

LINCOLN–(KFOR May 14)–Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers is leading two lawsuits to stop both the Biden Administration and the State of California from imposing electric-vehicle mandates on truck owners and operators throughout the country.

On Monday, Nebraska and 23 other states filed a petition for a review in the U.S Court of Appeals to challenge President Biden’s new regulation of emissions for heavy duty vehicles. Meanwhile, a separate group of 17 states and the Nebraska Trucking Association filed a lawsuit in California that challenges that state’s regulations of targeting trucking fleet owners and operators. Advanced Clean Fleets requires certain trucking fleet owners and operators to retire internal-combustion trucks and transition to more expensive and less efficient electric trucks. The rule applies to fleets that are headquartered outside of California if they operate within California.

Given California’s large population and access to ports for international trade, this regulation will have significant nationwide effects on the supply chain.

“California and an unaccountable EPA are trying to transform our national trucking industry and supply chain infrastructure,” Hilgers said. “This effort—coming at a time of heightened inflation and with an already-strained electrical grid—will devastate the trucking and logistics industry, raise prices for customers, and impact untold number of jobs across Nebraska and the country. Neither California nor the EPA has the constitutional power to dictate these nationwide rules to Americans.”

The States’ D.C. Circuit suit targets the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s 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. The EPA’s rule, however, would require manufacturers to produce fewer vehicles that utilize the preferred internal-combustion technology.

Both lawsuits argue that the Biden Administration and California regulators have exceeded their constitutional and statutory authority in attempting to force the entire country to transition to electric trucks.