U.S. Senator Katie Britt joined Representatives Barry Moore, Gary Palmer, Jerry Carl, and Robert Aderholt, joined more than 150 of their colleagues, in a bicameral letter to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan urging the Biden Administration to overturn its de facto electric mandate on trucks, tractors, buses, and semis.
The final rule, “Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards for Heavy-Duty Vehicles – Phase 3,” was published on April 22, 2024. According to the Rule Summary on EPA website, “The new standards will be applicable to HD vocational vehicles (such as delivery trucks, refuse haulers, public utility trucks, transit, shuttle, school buses, etc.) and tractors (such as day cabs and sleeper cabs on tractor-trailer trucks).”
Numerous consumer and trade groups oppose the rule. The American Trucking Associations Chief Advocacy and Public Affairs Officer Ed Gilroy said, “The American Trucking Associations opposes EPA’s GHG3 rule in its current form because the post-2030 targets remain entirely unachievable given the current state of zero-emission technology, the lack of charging infrastructure and restrictions on the power grid.”
The bicameral letter warned, “This rule will harm our families and businesses, increases our gas prices, and makes us more dependent on foreign supply chains – particularly China.”
“Our farmers and agricultural industry will be especially hurt by this new mandate. According to the latest agriculture census by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, there are 3,161,820 trucks (including pickups) on over 1.4 million farms and 3,784,743 tractors on over 1.5 million farms that would see higher equipment costs and tighter margins due to this misguided rule. These numbers also do not account for the small, independent truckers, trucking companies, and truck dealerships throughout the U.S. that will be impacted. Not only would this rule harm consumers, but it would also exacerbate consolidation by effectively forcing our small trucking companies out of business that cannot afford this hasty transition to electric or hydrogen powered trucks,” the lawmakers wrote.
“[W]e urge you to withdraw your final rule that is both unrealistic and burdensome,” the lawmakers continued. “This rule will only further increase costs for American families, businesses, and rural communities while fueling more inflation. We need to give Americans a choice in the cars and trucks that they drive, and affordability and performance for the trucking industry is paramount.”
Britt’s office released a statement calling her a “strong proponent of preserving consumers’ freedom to choose gas-powered vehicles.”
Earlier this year, Britt joined Senator Tommy Tuberville and another large bicameral group of lawmakers in a letter calling for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Deputy Administrator to rescind the Biden Administration’s proposed Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for passenger cars and light-duty trucks. This rule sought to phase out gas-powered vehicles and mandate the mass production of electric vehicles.
Britt’s statement noted that she has cosponsored several bills addressing the Biden administration’s vehicle mandates including Senator Crapo’s Choice in Automobile Retail Sales (CARS) Act to prohibit the EPA from moving forward with its EV mandate for passenger cars and trucks or any similar future rules that would limit the availability of new motor vehicles based on that vehicle’s engine type as well as being a cosponsor of Senator Markwayne Mullin’s the Preserving Choice in Vehicle Purchases Act.
