North Dakota fights Biden rule forcing states to set targets for vehicle emissions

BISMARCK — North Dakota will join a 21-state coalition in a lawsuit that opposes national efforts to reduce vehicle emissions.

The lawsuit, filed Friday, Dec. 22, in Kentucky’s U.S. District Court, asks a federal judge to block a mandate from the Biden administration. The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration will require states to adopt standards to reduce vehicle emissions on interstates and highways.

“This rule is yet another effort by the Biden administration to unconstitutionally and unlawfully use federal administrative agencies to push a climate agenda where Congress has granted no authority to implement such actions,” North Dakota Attorney General Wrigley said in a statement. “We will continue to push back against regulatory overreach by the Department of Transportation, and every other agency in the Federal government engaged in this sort of unlawful conduct.”

Biden announced plans in September to reduce greenhouse gas emission in an attempt to fight what has been described as a climate crisis. Communities in the U.S. suffered 23 $1 billion weather and climate disasters in the first eight months of 2023, the White House said in a news release.

That included an August hailstorm that hammered the Twin Cities.

Earlier this month, the Federal Highway Administration finalized its rule requiring state transportation departments and metropolitan planning organizations to establish targets for reducing carbon dioxide. The rule doesn’t set targets, but the Federal Highway Administration will “assess whether state DOTs have made significant progress toward achieving their targets,” according to a federal document that said the rule goes into effect Jan. 8.

“Transportation is the leading source of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S., and reducing emissions from that sector while ensuring our economy works for everyday Americans is critical to addressing the climate crisis,” Federal Highway Administrator Shailen Bhatt said in a Nov. 22 statement. “We don’t expect state DOTs and MPOs to solve a problem this large on their own, which is why this performance measure does not impose penalties for those who miss their targets.”

Using the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the agency said last month it would issue more than $27 billion for various programs to reduce greenhouse gasses.

That includes $6.4 billion for state and local governments to “develop carbon reduction strategies and fund a wide range of projects … designed to reduce carbon emissions from on-road highway sources.

Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, who is leading the 21-state coalition, called Biden’s plan extreme. Both he and Wrigley said the DOT overstepped its legal authority.

“President Biden is unconstitutionally ramming his radical climate agenda through administrative agencies that lack Congressional authority to implement such actions,” Cameron said Friday. “We will not stand by while this administration attempts to circumvent the legislative process.”

The other states that joined the lawsuit are Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming.