Legal effort against EPA GHG rules falls short

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit denied an appeal by a group of California trucking companies and related businesses in a battle over greenhouse gas (GHG) regulations promulgated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) affecting heavy-trucks and light vehicles.

In a per curium opinion earlier this week, the court said that groups “lack standing” to file such an appeal and also agreed with the EPA’s argument that relief from said rules would not result in lower heavy-duty truck prices; the ultimate goal of the appeal in the first place.

“Specifically, EPA argues, petitioners have failed to demonstrate an injury in fact because their allegations are too vague or otherwise deficient, and they have failed to demonstrate causation and redressability because even were we to grant their petitions, they would still face the same higher prices for vehicles,” the court said. “We agree with EPA that they have shown neither causation nor redressability.”

The court added that this appeal – brought by the California Trucking Association, Delta Construction Co. and other firms – combined multiple challenges to the GHG “truck rule” as well as a “collateral attack” on the GHG “car rule” and claimed that as purchasers of new vehicles, they are harmed by the increased up front costs attributable to the GHG standards.