On Wednesday a U.S. District Court delivered a significant setback to the Biden administration’s climate change agenda, striking down a controversial rule aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the nation’s highways.
The rule, introduced by the Department of Transportation (DOT)’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) in December 2023, sought to compel states to actively measure, report, and establish declining targets for carbon dioxide emissions generated by vehicles on U.S. highways.
The state of Texas, challenging the federal mandate, argued that the FHWA had overstepped its authority with the imposition of the new rule. U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix, appointed by former President Trump, concurred with Texas, stating unequivocally that “the rule was unauthorized.”
“A federal administrative agency cannot act without congressional authorization,” Hendrix wrote. The contested rule required states not only to track and report greenhouse gas emissions but also to set and strive for progressively lower emission targets. The Biden administration defended the rule as a crucial step towards mitigating climate change and promoting sustainable transportation infrastructure.
However, Texas presented a strong legal challenge, asserting that the FHWA lacked the statutory authority to enforce such environmental mandates under the current legislative framework. Judge Hendrix’s analysis aligned with this perspective, saying that the DOT’s expansive interpretation of its regulatory powers was unsupported by the statute’s text.
“The relevant definitions and related performance measures make clear that ‘performance of the Interstate/National Highway Systems’ focuses on the infrastructure’s effectiveness in facilitating travel, commerce, and national defense—not environmental outputs of vehicles using the systems,” Hendrix elaborated.
In December, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg stated that the “new performance measure will provide states with a clear and consistent framework to track carbon pollution and the flexibility to set their own climate targets.”
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton vehemently opposed the initiative, declaring the state’s intention to halt “unlawful climate mandates.” Additionally, in December, a coalition of 21 states filed a lawsuit in Kentucky to contest the regulation, a case that remains unresolved. (Read more: Trending Politics, 3/29/2024) (Archive)