A federal district court has overturned a Biden administration climate change rule that required states to track greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles on their highways and set reduction targets.
In a comprehensive ruling late Monday, Judge Benjamin Beaton of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky ordered the Federal Highway Administration to ignore the rule, which the Federal Highway Administration will finalize in November. did. The ruling represents a major victory for Kentucky, which joined 21 other states in challenging the regulations.
“President Biden’s radical environmental policies are out of touch with reality, and Kentucky families, farmers and workers are paying the price,” Republican Attorney General Russell Coleman said Tuesday. “Like all Americans, Kentuckians love our trucks, cars, and vans. With this victory in court, we put the brakes on the Biden administration’s politics that make no sense federally.”
Kentucky filed the lawsuit in December, a month after the FHWA finalized the regulations. The complaint alleges that the FHWA overstepped its legal authority in attempting to regulate vehicle emissions because it sought to force states to implement federal regulations.
Federal appeals court strikes down Biden’s carbon emissions disclosure rules
Regulations targeting highway carbon emissions are part of President Biden’s broader climate change initiative. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Mr. Beaton agreed with the ruling, declaring that the regulation exceeded FHWA’s statutory authority and was “arbitrary and capricious.” Instead of granting the plaintiff states’ motion for a preliminary injunction (which would have blocked the rule during litigation), he granted a motion for summary judgment, immediately invalidating the rule.
“If Congress were to purport to give the chief executive the authority to determine state policy, a different, and perhaps larger, problem would arise,” Beaton wrote in his ruling. “Modern constitutional doctrine allows Congress to demand many things from the states, but it cannot dictate or force the machinery of state government upon mere federal branches.”
He added, “If the chief executive is allowed to impose national greenhouse gas policy in the mouths of uncooperative state departments of transportation, the sovereign power at the heart of a durable and vibrant system of federalism will be undermined.” “Separation will be undermined.” “Neither the Constitution nor the Administrative Procedures Act recognizes administrative ventriloquism.”
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Traffic moves along I-75 during the morning commute in Dallas, Texas. (Cooper Neal/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
After FHWA finalized the rule on Nov. 22, the agency announced that the measure supports President Biden’s “whole-of-government approach” to reduce carbon emissions by 50% by 2030. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said at the time that the rule provides states with the following: Flexibility to set your own climate goals.
But the 22 states that challenged the case in court, along with industry groups such as the National Highway Traffic Contractors Association, argued that the regulation would limit state efforts and require them to follow federal efforts, and that the regulations would limit state efforts and require them to follow federal efforts. He claimed that it was effective.
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Additionally, Monday’s ruling comes shortly after a federal court in Texas similarly struck down the regulation. The state of Texas was the sole plaintiff in this case.
“The Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration are committed to meeting the Biden-Harris administration’s climate goals of cutting carbon pollution in half by 2030 and achieving net-zero emissions by 2050,” an FHWA spokesperson told Fox News Digital. We are committed to continuing to support them.” “We are reviewing the court’s decision and determining next steps.”
