West Virginia Attorney General JB McCuskey is leading a 23-state coalition in a comment letter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), urging the agency to delay and eventually repeal excessively strict “Tier 4” vehicle emission standards.
Citing slow electric vehicle growth, EPA is proposing to push back the phase-in of certain emission standards from model year 2027 to 2029 or later for “Tier 4” pollutants—volatile organic compounds, oxides of nitrogen and particulate matter. The Biden administration had proposed aggressive standards that could only have been met by broadly electrifying Americans’ vehicle fleet. Beyond moving compliance dates, the present EPA has said it will also revisit whether the Biden EPA standards should remain at all in later rulemaking, and the coalition agrees that the standards should be repealed.
The coalition’s letter explains why regulatory and factual circumstances have changed in ways that justify at least delaying the implementation of the new standards. The states describe how the market has not moved toward electrification as expected, with some automakers reducing electric vehicle (EV) production. Besides lower than expected consumer demand, the states contend that the electric grid cannot handle the increased demand, increasing prices and reliability challenges that would come from electrifying the vehicle fleet.
“The standards are so strict that auto makers would have no choice but to build many more electric vehicles. This may not be an official EV mandate, but in reality, it functions like one. Add to that, EV batteries require minerals that come from China and the Democratic Republic of the Congo—how soon would consumers have to worry about supply issues, not to mention the question of national security. I’m pleased the present administration is fixing the terrible mistakes of the last one,” Attorney General McCuskey said.
In addition, the coalition argues that the EPA lacks the legal authority to force a transition from gasoline vehicles to EVs at all. The states argue that Tier 4 exceeds what Congress authorized the EPA to do. Further, they contend that Tier 3 regulations have already improved air quality. In the letter, they write, “The Tier 3 standards have already reduced criteria pollutant emissions by 99%. EPA shouldn’t impose another round of costly, illegal regulations to squeeze a fraction out of the last percent, especially before the Nation’s fleet has a chance to catch up.”
“EPA should give automakers and consumers breathing room by delaying implementation,” the coalition writes.
Attorneys General from Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Wyoming joined the West Virginia-led letter, which you can read here.
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