WASHINGTON — Small-business truck owners have sued the Biden administration over its new zero-emissions heavy-duty vehicle standards, claiming the cost to comply would put them out of business.
The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association joined with the American Petroleum Institute (API) in a petition filed Tuesday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit challenging a final rule issued by the Environmental Protection Agency in April
API and OOIDA, along with the National Corn Growers Association and the American Farm Bureau Federation, are asking the court to vacate EPA’s rule because it “exceeds the agency’s statutory authority and is otherwise arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, and not in accordance with law,” according to the petition.
“Small business truckers make up 96% of trucking and could be regulated out of existence if the EPA’s unworkable heavy-duty rule comes into effect,” said OOIDA President Todd Spencer, commenting on the court challenge.
“This rule would devastate the reliability of America’s supply chain and ultimately increase costs for consumers. Mom and pop trucking businesses would be suffocated by the sheer cost and operational challenges of effectively mandating zero emission trucks.”
EPA’s “Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards for Heavy-Duty Vehicles – Phase 3” rule affects truck model years 2027 through 2032 and applies to a range of truck sizes, from delivery trucks and dump trucks to freight-hauling day-cab and long-haul sleeper-cab trucks. For long-haul tractors, for example, 25% of the fleet would be required to be zero-emission by model year 2032.
While the rule does not require a specific technology to meet the model-year requirements, much of the trucking industry see the rule as a de facto electric truck mandate, given the outlook for technology that will be available for those model years.
A new Class 8 diesel truck costs roughly $180,000 compared with up to $400,000 for a battery-electric truck, according to estimates. The administration has asserted that federal subsidies will bring down the cost and help the industry adjust to the new mandates.
In addition to a court challenge, those opposing the new rule have until Friday — when the rule is scheduled to go into effect — to file a petition for reconsideration directly with EPA.
Last month, congressional Republicans initiated an attempt to roll back the rule by introducing in the House and the Senate a joint resolution against it. The legislation has yet to be considered by the relevant committees.
Aside from court challenges, reconsideration petitions and political maneuvers, the likely best chance of keeping EPA’s rule from affecting the trucking industry may be a change in administrations.
Speaking at a private event in Washington last week, former President Donald Trump vowed to reverse Biden’s electric-vehicle climate policies if he is elected in November, according to Bloomberg.
