EDF, Allies Move to Defend EPA in Legal Challenges to Clean Car Standards

(Washington, D.C. – March 2, 2022) Environmental Defense Fund, along with a coalition of health and environmental groups, today moved to intervene in lawsuits challenging EPA’s Clean Car Standards for cars and passenger trucks in model years 2023 to 2026. The groups filed their motion to intervene in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

“These clean car standards will deliver enormous climate and public health benefits, saving consumers money while simultaneously growing our economy and creating well-paying American jobs,” said Alice Henderson, senior attorney and director of transportation and clean air policy for Environmental Defense Fund. “In fact, many of the states that are challenging the Clean Car Standards are home to U.S. manufacturing sites where billions of dollars in investments are creating good jobs in the kind of clean car solutions that will save families hard-earned money at the gas pump and will strengthen our national security.”

EPA’s Clean Car Standards for light-duty vehicles in model years 2023 to 2026 replace the prior administration’s weakened standards and are the most protective clean car standards our nation has ever adopted to address the climate crisis and protect our communities from unhealthy air. EPA estimates that by 2050 they will eliminate 3.1 billion tons of climate pollution and will save Americans as much as $420 billion in fuel costs. Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis joined EPA Administrator Michael Regan when the standards were announced in December, and the standards were broadly supported by states, companies, labor representatives, health and environmental groups and many other stakeholders.

Groups that filed lawsuits by Monday’s deadline for judicial review include oil, ethanol and biofuel interests, and a coalition of states led by Texas.

Environmental Defense Fund is joined in our motion to intervene by Conservation Law Foundation, Environmental Law & Policy Center, Natural Resources Defense Council, Public Citizen, Sierra Club, and Union of Concerned Scientists.

In addition to today’s motion to intervene, EDF also released a fact sheet documenting the billions of dollars manufacturers have invested in clean vehicles solutions and tens of thousands of clean vehicle-linked jobs in states that are challenging the Clean Car Standards. These include: Ford’s $5.8 billion investment in a facility in Glendale, Kentucky; GM’s $2.3 billion investment in its Lordstown, Ohio plant; and Tesla's $1 billion manufacturing plant in Travis County, Texas (Tesla has also promised to invest $10 billion in that plant over time, supporting 20,000 direct jobs).