Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall is fighting back against a mandate from the Environmental Protection Agency that he believes has the potential to stifle the production of heavy-duty vehicles. The rule effectively forces manufacturers to produce more electric trucks and fewer internal combustion models.
In a brief filed recently in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, Marshall and AGs from 23 other states argued against the mandate in Nebraska v. EPA.
“The Biden-Harris Administration has declared war on American energy, and Americans are tired of its direct impact on their bank accounts,” said Marshall. “If Hurricane Helene and Milton taught us anything, it’s that we cannot rely entirely on electric vehicles. We must have secure, affordable, and reliable access to internal-combustion trucks which have kept our country moving for decades.”
According to the group, just one-tenth of one percent of all heavy-duty trucks sold today are powered by a battery, but that EPA’s rule would increase that number to 45% in less than a decade.
The Attorney General argued that EPA’s electric-truck mandate raises a “major question” that Congress has not clearly authorized EPA to decide.
The brief previewed the possible fallout from continuing to enforce the rule including the massive shift in the nation’s trucking and logistics industries. The officials emphasized that it will slow down the transportation of essential goods, stress the electric grid, and drastically raise prices for Americans.
The brief also argues that EPA has never before forced manufacturers to produce electric versions of heavy-duty vehicles and that allowing the electric-truck mandate to stand would short circuit the ongoing policy debate that should be left to Congress and the states themselves.
Austen Shipley is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on X @ShipleyAusten
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