A coalition of environmental and public health groups intervened in a lawsuit challenging the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) newest clean car standards.
Attorneys general from 25 states filed suit against the agency in April, saying the rule oversteps the agency’s authority. The groups intervening in the suit argue the agency’s rule is “vital to keeping us off the highway to climate hell.”
EPA set new motor vehicle emissions standards in March. Vehicles with model years 2027 and later will have more protective standards, which the agency said will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants from passenger cars, light trucks, larger pickup trucks and vans.
“The EPA has set vehicle emissions standards for decades, and these standards are the agency’s bread and butter,” said Scott Hochberg of the Center for Biological Diversity, a suit intervenor. “This rule falls squarely within the EPA’s domain of protecting air quality and reducing vehicle pollution, areas it has regulated many times before.”
