TOPEKA–(June 7, 2023) Today, Attorney General Kris Kobach joined a coalition of 19 states challenging the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) decision to allow California to illegally ban trucks. That ban forces truckers to buy electric trucks and regulates trucking out of existence through mandating net-zero emissions standards.
“Biden’s EPA is attempting to use the California truck ban to force his radical climate change agenda onto the rest of the country. This disastrous Biden policy would devastate Kansas industries, destroy Kansas jobs, and dramatically increase the cost of consumer goods for Kansas families,” Kobach said. “California’s truck ban is reckless, and that’s why I am once again challenging a Biden policy.”
California’s Advanced Clean Trucks regulation is a violation of the Clean Air Act and other federal laws. The Biden administration gave California the authority to force most buses, vans, trucks, and tractor-trailers be electric by 2035. Currently, just 2% of heavy trucks sold in the United States are electric.
The ban on traditional trucks is part of the Biden administration’s aggressive climate change agenda, which hikes prices for businesses and consumers. Costs for electric trucks already start at about $100,000 and can reach the high six figures. Even worse, California’s new regulations are setting the standard for the rest of the country. Eight other states have already adopted California’s truck ban, and more are considering it. That makes California a major decision-maker for the future of the trucking industry. California’s truck ban will not only increase costs, but it will devastate the demand for liquid fuels, such as biodiesel, and cut trucking jobs across the nation.
The trucking industry currently provides almost 70,000 jobs in Kansas.
Iowa led the lawsuit, filing the petition for review in the U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Columbia. The suit is joined by Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Ohio, South Carolina, Utah, and West Virginia.
Read the full petition for review here.