The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will likely face more legal challenges over its latest emissions standards, which are projected to lead to two-thirds of new car sales being all-electric vehicles by 2032.
“Once it’s published as a final rule, it will undoubtedly be challenged again, just like the last set of rules was challenged,” Steven Bradbury, a distinguished fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, and a former general counsel at the Department of Transportation (DOT), told The Epoch Times.
“At that point, there may be a ruling by the D.C. Circuit [Court of Appeals] on the earlier challenges that would help inform how the court would handle a new challenge,” he added.
Currently, three interrelated legal challenges are pending in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. The challenges are to the EPA’s current emissions rules seeking to make half of new car sales be all-electric by 2030, EPA’s waiver to California to allow the state to set its own emissions rules, which mandates 100 percent zero-emission new vehicle sales by 2035, and fuel economy requirements by Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
And some petitioners of the current legal challenges have already spoken up.
American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM), the main trade association representing oil refineries for gasoline and other petroleum products, said EPA’s new emissions rules would “effectively ban gasoline and diesel vehicles.”
“The Agency should withdraw this rule and work collaboratively with the fuel, petrochemical, and vehicle industries to find cost-effective ways to reduce emissions while maintaining competition, U.S. energy and national security, and choice for consumers,” wrote AFPM President and CEO Chet Thompson in a statement on April 12, the same day EPA announced the proposed new emissions rules.
AFPM didn’t respond to The Epoch Times’ inquiry about whether the organization planned to file a new legal challenge, but referred to its statements.
By Terri Wu
