Six states file brief supporting lawsuit against EPA rules on electric vehicles

Six states filed a brief in support of a lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency's final rule on vehicle emission standards, attorneys general announced Tuesday.

The brief, led by West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and signed on by Kansas, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia and Wyoming, states that "an overbroad, top-down regulatory scheme that tries to force people into electric vehicles while disregarding that mandate’s serious consequences does no one any good."

The filing is in support of a lawsuit from 16 states against the government's final rule on greenhouse gas emission standards for passenger cars and light trucks for 2023 through 2026. 

The EPA said the final rule is the "strongest vehicle emissions standards ever established" and would "leverage advances in clean car technology to unlock $190 billion in net benefits to Americans, including reducing climate pollution, improving public health, and saving drivers money at the pump."

The attorneys general argue that the standards would cause the United States to depend on nations such as China for materials to make electric vehicles. 

The states that initially filed the challenge are Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas and Utah.