Archives



Business, Freight News, People


Ex-AG Barr Sues Calif. Over Emissions Rule

[ April 12, 2024   //   ]

A former U.S. attorney general is suing California over its Advanced Clean Fleets, or ACF, regulation, which requires fleets to transition to zero-emission trucks for draying, beginning this year.
William Barr operates as chair of AmFree, the American Free Enterprise Chamber of Commerce’s Center for Legal Action, in the lawsuit filed April 1, and includes Associated Equipment Distributors, or AED. The ACF rule is also under fire from the California Trucking Association, which filed suit in October.
“The attempt currently underway by the state of California to ban liquid fuels and internal combustion engines is a major threat to the American way of life and terrible climate policy to boot,” said Gentry Collins, AmFree Chamber CEO, according to the Commercial Carrier Journal.
AmFree Chamber called the mandate “a power grab that seeks to regulate out-of-state truck fleets if they so much as cross the state line even once per year.”
The complaint claims that the ACF is illegal, and that the California Air Resources Board has not obtained a waiver of Clean Air Act preemption from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, adding that it is separately preempted by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 and by the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act (F4A), CCJ reported.
Regarding Clean Air Act preemption from the EPA, which
While CARB has applied for the Clean Air Act preemption, the lawsuit states: “CARB refuses to concede that it needs a waiver to enforce” the rule. In EISA, Congress directed the U.S. Transportation Secretary to improve the fuel efficiency of trucks exceeding 8,500 pounds. The lawsuit claims CARB violated this law by requiring manufacturers to improve fuel consumption than the federal maximum.
The lawsuit also claims that CARB’s rules violate the F4A because they “relate to and are intimately connected with carrier rates, routes, and services, and so they are preempted” by F4A. “The rules compel motor carriers to modify their operations in ways that will significantly affect their services, routes, and rates,” CCJ said.

: Bill Barr, former U.S. Attorney General

Tags: ,