EDF, Allies Ask to Join Lawsuit in Defense of California Clean Truck Protections

(Washington, D.C. – June 29, 2023) Environmental Defense Fund and three other leading environmental organizations will help defend California’s clean truck protections against court challenges.

EDF and the Center for Biological Diversity, Natural Resources Defense Council and Sierra Club filed a motion to intervene with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit today.

“Heavy-duty vehicles only make up about one-tenth of all the traffic on America’s roads, but they are responsible for more than half of the heath-harming pollution and more than a quarter of the climate pollution from the transportation sector,” said EDF Clean Transportation Attorney Andy Su. “California’s Advanced Clean Trucks Rule will save at least 900 lives by 2040 and eliminate as much climate pollution as would be generated by four million cars. It will protect public health and our climate, save money for truckers and fleets, and help create new American jobs.”

At issue is the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to grant California a waiver of preemption that allows the state to move forward with protective pollution standards for new medium and heavy-duty vehicles like freight trucks and buses. Under the Clean Air Act, California has been authorized to request such waivers for more than 50 years and has successfully used the process many times.

The waiver allows California to move ahead with its Advanced Clean Trucks Rule, which will speed the adoption of new zero-emission medium and heavy-duty trucks. The California Air Resources Board estimates that the Advanced Clean Trucks Rule will reduce climate pollution by almost three million metric tons each year by 2040, as well as reducing smog-forming NOx pollution and potentially deadly particulate matter pollution. Seven other states – Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Vermont and Washington – have adopted California’s Advanced Clean Trucks Rule as long provided for under our clean air laws.

A group including trucking and oil industry interests, along with a coalition of states led by Iowa, have sued to overturn EPA’ s decision to grant the waiver. Vehicle and engine manufacturers are not challenging the decision.

California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, the District of Columbia, and the Cities of Los Angeles and New York are defending the waiver.

In addition to EDF and its allies, East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice and the People’s Collective for Environmental Justice, represented by Earthjustice, also intervened to defend the waiver.

“For more than half a century our nation’s clean air laws have expressly authorized state leadership in reducing air pollution from new vehicles, and EPA’s approval of a preemption waiver for the Advanced Clean Trucks Rule is firmly consistent with that longstanding history,” said Su.