A group of small trucking and construction fleet owners in California has filed a federal lawsuit challenging the federal government’s new fuel-economy standards for heavy duty and medium duty vehicles.
According to reports in U.S. trade publications, the suit, filed by Pacific Legal Foundation, charges that federal officials were legally required to submit the regulations for independent scientific scrutiny, but failed to do so.
“Federal law says EPA can’t issue new clean-air regulations without submitting the proposals for independent scrutiny by its Science Advisory Board,” said PLF Senior Staff Attorney Ted Hadzi-Antich. “EPA recklessly ignored this requirement.”
In August, US President Obama announced the first-ever federal fuel consumption standards for medium and heavy-duty vehicles.
Canada is working on its own set of commercial vehicle fuel economy standards.
The Canadian Trucking Alliance says the regulatory approach, however, needs to be supplemented by complementary measures to promote and accelerate investment in market-ready solutions.
