Federal standoff looms in California: potential court cases may align, and a Federal Register notice has been published
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has formalised its objections to California's Clean Truck Check rule, making the move official in the Federal Register. This comes as the comment period for the Clean Truck Check rule remains open until September 25.
The controversy surrounding the rule stems from a lawsuit filed by the state of California in the Northern District, which arose following a vote that passed both houses of Congress in June. The vote was later signed into law by President Donald Trump, and it used the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to overturn several waivers granted to the California Air Resources Board (CARB).
The Clean Truck Check rule requires any trucks that operate in California to undergo the Clean Truck Check test, even if the test is conducted in another state. The fate of these waivers rests on the outcome of the Northern District lawsuit.
The EPA has expressed concerns that the Clean Truck Check requirement may be prohibited by the U.S. Constitution due to its extraterritorial reach and potential to burden interstate commerce. The EPA's Federal Register notice signalled it would approve California's State Implementation Plan (SIP) except for the part that requires out-of-state trucks to comply with the Clean Truck Check.
The Clean Truck Partnership deal, which is at the centre of the dispute, relies on two waivers granted by the EPA. One of these waivers approved California's Omnibus NOx rule, while the other permitted the adoption of California's Advanced Clean Truck rule.
In a twist, the Northern District case involves California as the plaintiff, while the plaintiffs in the Eastern District case are a group of truck and engine manufacturers. The U.S. government, representing the EPA, has filed arguments to keep the lawsuit challenging California's Clean Truck Partnership in the federal district court for the Eastern District of California.
The U.S. government argues that transferring the case risks denying them injunctive relief to remedy the irreparable harm they suffer from California's enforcement of preempted standards. The Eastern District court had asked for input as to why the lawsuit there should not be moved to California's Northern District.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), supported by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), has sued California, opposing the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and its Clean Truck Partnership program as the defendants. The CTP lawsuit was filed by a group of engine and truck manufacturers who signed the CTP two years ago.
Interestingly, the state's capital city, Sacramento, is in the Eastern district, and actions taken by the state government, like the signing of the CTP, should be litigated in that jurisdiction, according to the U.S. government's argument.
The Clean Truck Check is part of the State Implementation Plan (SIP) required by EPA for all states, which is related to the control of emissions from non-gasoline combustion vehicles over 14,000 pounds. The Clean Truck Check requires trucks to download data on pollutants from its onboard diagnostics twice a year, which will rise to four times per year.
In the Eastern District case, the OEMs in question signed the Clean Truck Partnership in August 2023. As the legal battle unfolds, the future of California's Clean Truck Check rule and the Clean Truck Partnership remains uncertain.
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