Kansas AG joins coalition to challenge California electric vehicle mandate

TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) - Attorney General Kris Kobach has joined 19 other states to challenge a new mandate in California that requires heavy trucks to be electric.

On Wednesday, June 7, Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach announced that he joined a coalition of 19 states to challenge the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to allow California to ban all trucks that are not electric. He said the ban forces truckers to purchase electric trucks and regulates the industry through a net-zero emissions standards mandate.

“Biden’s EPA is attempting to use the California truck ban to force his radical climate change agenda onto the rest of the country. This disastrous Biden policy would devastate Kansas industries, destroy Kansas jobs, and dramatically increase the cost of consumer goods for Kansas families,” Kobach said. “California’s truck ban is reckless, and that’s why I am once again challenging a Biden policy.”

AG Kobach noted that California’s Advanced Clean Trucks regulation violates the Clean Air Act and other federal laws. He said the EPA gave California the authority to force most buses, vans, trucks and tractor-trailers to be electric by 2035. Currently, only 2% of heavy trucks sold in the U.S. run on electricity.

According to Kobach, the ban is part of an aggressive climate change agenda that hikes prices for businesses and consumers. He said costs for electric trucks start at about $100,000. He also said the regulations set the standard for the rest of the nation.

Already, the AG indicated that eight other states have adopted the ban and more continue to weigh the option. He warned it would increase costs and devastate demand for liquid fuels like biodiesel which will cut trucking jobs nationwide. Currently, about 70,000 Kansans claim the trucker job title.

Kobach noted that Iowa led the suit and filed a petition for review in the U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Columbia. It is joined by Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Ohio, South Carolina, Utah and West Virginia.

To read the full petition, click HERE.