WASHINGTON — The Biden administration has finalized a rule requiring each state to track and monitor greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles despite opposition from some states and road and bridge builders.
The new rule, which generated close to 40,000 comments after it was formally proposed in a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) last year, requires each state’s department of transportation to establish declining carbon dioxide targets — using fuel sales, fuel efficiency and vehicles-miles-traveled data — and report on their progress.
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), which issued the rule, established 2022 as the reference year by which targets will be measured.
The rule does not mandate how low targets must be in each state. Instead, according to the rule, each state may set targets “that are appropriate for their communities and that work for their respective climate change and other policy priorities, as long as the targets aim to reduce emissions over time.” It also does not impose penalties on a state for failing to meet its GHG targets.
The rule supports the Biden administration’s goal of cutting carbon pollution in half by 2030, and net-zero emissions by 2050.
“Every state has its own unique climate challenges, and every state ought to have the data, funding, and flexibility it needs to meet those challenges head on,” commented U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, unveiling the final rule on Wednesday.
“This new performance measure will provide states with a clear and consistent framework to track carbon pollution and the flexibility to set their own climate targets — which we will also help them meet with more than $27 billion in federal funding through President Biden’s Investing in America agenda.”
Support for the rule varies among states.
“Some of our members are very supportive of the language and/or the intent of the NPRM and they encourage FHWA to move forward with finalizing the NPRM as proposed,” the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, which represents state DOTs, stated in comments on the NPRM last year.
“That being said, some of our members are opposed to the NPRM for many different and specific reasons — beyond the broad intent to address climate change — and recommend FHWA to not implement the NPRM, or at the least make substantial changes.”
One of the states opposing the rule, Texas, contended that meeting the Biden administration’s overall carbon-cutting goals cannot be achieved using the FHWA’s method for tracking carbon emissions.
“Annually, trucks carry 1.5 billion tons of freight worth $1.2 trillion to, from, and within Texas … . [A]nother 195 million tons worth $664 billion passed through Texas,” the state’s DOT commented. “For a state like Texas with a growing population, it is not plausible to remove the equivalent of 59.3% of current highway trips, plus the additional future trips from increased population and increased goods movement through 2030.”
David Bauer, president of the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA), which represents transportation construction suppliers and contractors, asserted in comments filed last year that imposing a GHG measurement tool for transportation is beyond FHWA’s authority.
Commenting on the final rule, Bauer noted that a GHG reporting mandate also was not intended as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
“The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law would not have been bipartisan had it included requirements on states for mitigating the impacts of global climate change,” Bauer said.