Federal Judge Blocks Rule Targeting Gas-Powered Cars
FRANKFORT, Ky. (April 2, 2024) — Attorney General Russell Coleman announced a Kentucky federal judge blocked the Biden Administration’s highway emissions rule that tried to drive gas-powered cars off the road. Leading a coalition of 21 state attorneys general, General Coleman brought a challenge in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky against the Federal Highway Administration’s rule that attempted to force states to reduce CO2 emissions on the roads.
If the Federal Highway Administration’s rule had not been struck down, it would have required states to set targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from on-road sources. Multiple states commented that the FHWA rule may cause the elimination of future economic development and job creation projects.
“President Biden’s radical environmental agenda has lost touch with reality, and Kentucky families, farmers and workers are paying the price,” said Attorney General Coleman. “Like all Americans, Kentuckians love our trucks, cars and vans. With this victory in court, we’re slamming the brakes on the Biden Administration’s politics that make no sense in the Commonwealth.”
In addition to challenging the Biden Administration here in Kentucky, Attorney General Coleman twice sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in March for its job-killing rules that have more to do with the President’s political agenda than protecting Kentuckians’ health or the environment. Along with West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, Coleman led a 24-state group of attorneys general to challenge the EPA’s devastating new air quality rule that would effectively block the building or expansion of any manufacturing facility in much of the country. He also joined a lawsuit against the EPA’s aggressive restrictions on methane gas emissions that would drive up inflation and undermine Kentucky jobs.
Attorney General Coleman was joined in the FHWA suit by attorneys general from Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming.
Read the opinion.