Appeals Court Dismisses Challenge to Federal Truck GHG Emissions Standards

An appeals court has dismissed a legal challenge to federal greenhouse-gas emissions and fuel-efficiency standards for medium and heavy trucks by a California construction company and the California Construction Trucking Association.

In an April 24 decision, the three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said the plaintiffs seeking the appellate court’s review of the 2011 standards of the Environmental Protection Agency and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration did not have legal standing.

The two agencies worked to generate functionally equivalent standards for greenhouse- gas emissions and fuel economy.

The “California petitioners” claimed that, as purchasers of new vehicles, they are harmed by the increased up-front costs attributable to the EPA greenhouse-gas emissions standards.

But the court said the trucking companies did not establish the necessary causal connection between the standards and the increased costs they would incur.