WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senators Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), and U.S. Representatives Russ Fulcher (R-Idaho) introduced Congressional Review Act legislation in the Senate and House to block the Biden administration’s electric vehicle mandates. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently finalized new emissions regulations which would require up to two-thirds of new cars and nearly 40% of trucks sold in the U.S. to be electric vehicles (EVs) in eight years.
“The Biden administration is determined to have every vehicle on the road be electric regardless of price or feasibility. An EV mandate will significantly disrupt our nation’s supply chain, raise already high prices, and severely impede the ability of consumers and businesses alike to make their own decisions. Idahoans cannot afford these excessive and unrealistic EV mandates any longer,” said Risch.
“These rules represent yet another attempt by the Biden Administration to force its radical green agenda and pick winners and losers in the free market. Consequences of regulations like these raise costs for the average American, restrict choice and push our country toward greater dependence on China. Idahoans deserve access to affordable, reliable vehicles of their choice,”said Crapo.
“Biden's latest effort to push electric vehicles is completely out of line and will eliminate consumer choice, grow our reliance on foreign adversaries, directly impact transportation for Idahoans, and have lasting impacts on the U.S. supply chain,” Fulcher said. “Rural communities around Idaho are not able to implement the massive grid expansion that would be needed to support the electrification of heavy-duty trucks. These vehicles consume roughly seven times as much electricity on a single charge as a typical home does in a day and charging centers can require as much power from the electrical grid as a small city. Infrastructure aside, electric trucks cost roughly twice as much as diesel trucks, and these vehicles are not able to haul nearly as much. I am proud to lead this effort alongside my colleagues to stop the EPA from enforcing these irrelevant rules to meet Biden's Green New Deal agenda."
“President Biden’s EV mandate is delusional,” Ricketts said. “This rule will make it harder for low-income families to buy a car or rural families to get to their jobs. I promised Nebraskans I’d use every tool I have to fight this. Our bipartisan legislation will keep costs down, defend consumer choice, and protect us against becoming more dependent on the CCP.”
“These regulations are not only disastrous for our economy, but Alaskans know well that EV technology just doesn’t work in rural states—especially those with extreme cold temperatures and communities separated by thousands of miles where reliable transportation is a matter of life and death,” Sullivan said. “Make no mistake, this thinly-disguised attempt to get rid of the internal-combustion engine without congressional authority will only hurt hard-working families across the country, worsen the supply chain crisis, and deepen our reliance on Chinese Communist Party-controlled critical minerals. We’re urging every one of our colleagues to put the interests of American families above the demands of the radical environmentalists, and support our CRA resolutions overturning these ludicrous rules to ensure Americans and Alaskans continue to have access to the vehicles of their choice that actually work.”
BACKGROUND:
Title II of the Clean Air Act (CAA) addresses transportation-based sources of air pollution emissions via the tailpipe by seeking to reduce vehicle emission, as well as fuel. Within Title II, CAA section 202 provides the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with the authority to set emission standards for new motor vehicles.
Beginning in 2010, EPA began to interpret CAA section 202 as providing the Agency authority to regulate greenhouse gas (GHGs) emissions from cars and trucks. Between 2010 and the end of 2022, EPA had promulgated three rounds of GHG standards for light-duty vehicles covering model years 2012–2026, and two rounds of GHG standards for medium- and heavy-duty trucks covering model years 2014–2027.
Light and Medium Duty Vehicles Rule: On Wednesday, April 12, 2023, EPA announced the “Multi-Pollutant Emissions Standards for Model Years 2027 and Later Light-Duty and Medium Duty Vehicles,” a proposed rule to reduce emissions from light-duty and medium-duty vehicles starting with model year (MY) 2027 through MY2032. In this rule, EPA proposed multipollutant emissions standards for light-duty passenger cars and light trucks and Class 2b and 3 vehicles (“medium-duty vehicles”). EPA estimated that, due to this proposal, electric vehicles (EVs) will make up two- thirds of new vehicles by MY2032, a whopping 67% of overall vehicle production. In 2022, EVs accounted for a mere 5.8% of new cars sold in the US. The administration unveiled their finalized light and medium-duty vehicles rule March 20, 2024. See Ricketts and Sullivan’s joint statement on the announcement here.
Heavy Duty Vehicles Rule: On Wednesday, April 12, 2023, EPA announced the “Greenhouse Gas Standards for Heavy-Duty Vehicles - Phase 3” which would apply to heavy-duty vocational vehicles such as delivery trucks, refuse haulers, dump trucks, public utility trucks, transit, shuttle, school buses and trucks typically used to haul freight. These standards built on the Heavy-Duty NOx standards for MY 2027 and beyond, which EPA finalized in December 2022, representing the third phase of EPA’s “Clean Trucks Plan.” The administration unveiled their finalized heavy-duty vehicles rule on March 29, 2024. See Ricketts and Sullivan’s joint statement on the announcement here.
