Ken Paxton, Texas Attorney General

AUSTIN – (News Release) Attorney General Paxton led a multistate coalition that filed a brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit to halt the implementation of radical climate regulations promulgated by the Biden Administration’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).  

Lacking statutory authority and relying upon the left-wing political goals of the Biden Administration as their justification, EPA has instituted harsh new rules that unreasonably target car and light truck greenhouse gas emissions. The purpose of such action, which EPA has readily admitted, is to force manufacturers to focus almost exclusively on electric vehicle production and, as a byproduct, destroy financial incentives to manufacture gas-powered vehicles. These actions will likely lead to substantial increases in the cost of transportation for working Americans. The regulations track the Biden Administration’s destructive whole-of-government approach to radically change the American economy to focus on climate change.  

EPA’s desire to force automotive manufacturers to pivot exclusively to electric vehicles is not only an unlawful intervention into the market that would likely burden and threaten the reliability of our electric grid, but it also poses serious problems for our national security.  

As the brief points out, this transition would make America weaker and increasingly reliant on hostile nations like China: “Another reason this case presents a major question is that it jeopardizes national security. An overwhelming share of the materials required to produce electric vehicles are in China and other hostile countries. The State Petitioners have long partnered with the federal government to enhance energy security and diminish our reliance on hostile foreign actors. And Congress has expressly legislated on that topic. It is implausible that Congress would have empowered EPA . . . to jeopardize this goal by forcing vehicle manufacturers to increase reliance on foreign actors.” 

To read the full brief, click here.