Dive Brief:
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A coalition of cities, counties and states on Friday filed a petition for review challenging the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s final rule lowering corporate average fuel economy standards for new passenger cars and light trucks.
- The petition, filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, alleges that NHTSA’s final rule is arbitrary and capricious and violates the Administrative Procedure Act and the Energy Policy and Conservation Act.
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“With today’s lawsuit, Chicago and its partners nationwide are planting a flag on decades of scientific evidence and demonstrating our unshakable commitment to protecting the health and wellbeing of our people,” Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said in a statement.
Dive Insight:
In 1975, Congress enacted the Energy Policy and Conservation Act requiring NHTSA to establish “maximum feasible” fuel economy standards for new vehicles.
The Trump administration last month finalized new fuel efficiency standards, weakening former President Joe Biden’s standards that would have required automakers to increase the fuel efficiency of passenger cars and light trucks to roughly 50 miles per gallon by 2031. NHTSA estimates its new Safer Affordable Fuel-Efficient Vehicles Rule III would achieve a fleet average fuel economy of 34.9 miles per gallon by model year 2031, up from 30.1 mile per gallon for model year 2024.
The U.S. Department of Transportation said in a Sept. 28 press release that “despite statutory prohibitions against even considering alternative fuel technologies such as EVs when setting standards, the Biden-Buttigieg standards were set so high that they created a backdoor electric vehicle mandate.”
The District of Columbia, Chicago, the city and county of Denver, Los Angeles, New York CIty and the city and county of San Francisco joined Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai‘i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin in filing the lawsuit.
“Historically, NHTSA’s standards have reduced consumer costs by improving vehicle fuel efficiency, placed downward pressure on gas prices by reducing fuel consumption, protected the U.S. economy from global oil shocks, and reduced pollution from tailpipes and refineries,” according to a news release from New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport. “However, the final rule significantly weakens fuel economy standards, harming both consumers and the planet at the exact moment when global gasoline prices are soaring.”
“These rollbacks are bad for the environment and hell on our wallets,” Denver Mayor Mike Johnston said in a statement. “Gas prices are already skyrocketing because of President Trump’s war. These changes only add insult to injury, and we are prepared to fight them in court.”
