Red states challenge Biden’s new clean car rule

By Lesley Clark | 04/18/2024 04:18 PM EDT

The new tailpipe emissions rule is “legally flawed and unrealistic,” says West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, who is co-leading a group of colleagues asking a court to vacate the rule.

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey .

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey speaks with reporters at the state Capitol on May 4, 2023, in Charleston, West Virginia. Jeff Dean/AP

A coalition of Republican-led states is asking a federal appeals court to scrap the Biden administration’s new tailpipe rule for passenger cars and trucks, saying it exceeds EPA’s authority.

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, along with Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman and 23 other states, on Thursday asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to review EPA’s new climate regulation, find it unlawful and vacate it.

The Republicans charge that the rule — the strongest-ever tailpipe emissions clampdown — would remake the automotive market, pushing electric vehicle sales from 8.4 percent of total vehicle sales today to 67 percent by 2032.

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“This rule is legally flawed and unrealistic, to say the least,” Morrisey said in a statement. “With the high prices of electric vehicles, this would have devastating effects in the daily lives of consumers — many of whom are already suffering from the burdens of historically high inflation.”

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