US federal court has overturned a Biden Administration climate policy that required states to track and set reduction goals for greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles on highways, Fox News reported on Tuesday.
Late on Monday, Judge Benjamin Beaton of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky issued a sweeping judgment ordering the Federal Highway Administration to halt the enforcement of the rules which were finalized by the agency in November. The ruling is a considerable win for the State of Kentucky, which joined 21 other states in challenging the regulations.
“President Biden’s radical environmental agenda has lost touch with reality, and Kentucky families, farmers, and workers are paying the price,” Republican state Attorney General Russell Coleman said on Tuesday. “Like all Americans, Kentuckians love our trucks, cars and vans. With this victory in court, we’re slamming the brakes on the Biden administration’s politics that make no sense in the commonwealth.”
In December, Kentucky filed a lawsuit against the FHWA, one month after the finalization of the regulations. The lawsuit claims that the FHWA exceeded its legal authority by attempting to regulate vehicle emissions and forcing states to implement federal regulations.
Beaton concurred in his ruling, stating that the regulations exceed the FHWA’s statutory authority and are deemed “arbitrary and capricious.” Rather than granting the plaintiff states’ motion for a preliminary injunction—which would have halted the rule during litigation—he approved their motion for summary judgment, thereby nullifying the rule with immediate effect.
“If Congress did purport to give the Administrator authority to set state policy, that would raise a different and arguably bigger problem,” Beaton wrote in his ruling. “Modern constitutional doctrine allows Congress to demand much from states, but it cannot commandeer or coerce the apparatus of state governments into mere administrative districts of the federal government.”
“If the Administrator were allowed to shove national greenhouse-gas policy into the mouths of uncooperative state Departments of Transportation, this would corrupt the separation of sovereigns central to our lasting and vibrant system of federalism,” he continued. “Neither the Constitution nor the Administrative Procedure Act authorizes administrative ventriloquism.”
In addition, the ruling Monday comes shortly after a federal court in Texas similarly struck down the regulations. In that case, Texas had filed a lawsuit as the sole plaintiff, the outlet continued.
“The Department of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration remain committed to supporting the Biden-Harris administration’s climate goals of cutting carbon pollution in half by 2030 and achieving net-zero emissions by 2050,” an FHWA spokesperson told Fox News. “We are reviewing the court’s decision and determining next steps.”
