Iowa attorney general joins lawsuits challenging trucking emission rules

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird held a news conference at Housby Company in Ankeny May 14, 2024, on joining a lawsuit against a California trucking mandate. (Photo courtesy Iowa Attorney General's Office)

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird is joining lawsuits that challenge new trucking standards that she says unfairly push the industry toward the adoption of electric vehicles.

Speaking at a news conference Tuesday at the Housby Company in Ankeny, Bird announced Iowa has joined a lawsuit, filed by Nebraska and 14 other states, as well as the Arizona State Legislature and Nebraska Trucking Association. The lawsuit challenges a 2023 California regulation called “Advanced Clean Fleets,” imposed by the California Air Resources Board. The regulation bans internal-combustion engines in medium- and heavy-duty vehicles by 2045, with sales of larger diesel vehicles ending in 2036.

Bird argues that California’s mandate will force truck fleets — even those from companies based outside of California — to be comprised of electric vehicles by 2042. The rule would add to the expenses of trucking companies, she said, and that in turn would result in higher costs for consumers. She also criticized the ineffectiveness and high cost of currently available electric trucks, saying that mandating electric vehicle use will have a negative impact on trucking companies’ ability to meet the needs of the U.S. supply chain.

“Who here has seen an electric semi-truck?” Bird said. “Not many Iowans have. Biden and California’s radical green dream is unrealistic, and it’s out of touch — a fantasy.”

Bird said that “unlike California, Iowa knows that without truckers America would grind to a halt,” and that the lawsuit sends “a loud and clear message that in Iowa, we support our truckers.”

Bird was joined by Scott Szymanek, chairman for the Iowa Motor Truck Association and president and chief financial officer of Stutsman, Inc., and by Dale Decker, the CEO of Decker Truck Line. Szymanek, speaking on behalf of the trucking association, said that California’s rules are “unrealistic” for the trucking industry, and repeated Bird’s message that the rules are not attainable with current electric vehicle technology.

“To be clear, the trucking industry is not opposed to battery electric vehicles,” he said. “Many fleets are testing them and the initial results are mixed at best. What is abundantly clear from early adopters of this technology is that the hurdles for widespread adoption are massive and undeniable. The targets and timelines mandated by the EPA and CARB are not possible.”

Bird has also joined a lawsuit calling for a review of new tailpipe-emissions restrictions set by the Environmental Protection Agency for heavy-duty vehicles. Opponents of the restrictions say they would essentially push manufacturers to produce more electric trucks.

While Szymanek pushed back against the new state and federal rules, he said the trucking industry has made “tremendous strides” in reducing negative environmental impacts, pointing to lower rates of nitrogen oxides and particulate matter pollution and the success of reducing carbon emissions through “Clean Burn” diesel trucks.

“We know how important this effort is,” Szymanek said. “However, smart, pragmatic and technology-neutral policies will allow for a range of low carbon fuel sources that are a necessary bridge to carry us to a zero emission future — but the EPA carbs dogmatic hyperfixation on battery electric vehicles, as the only technology solution is simply bad environmental and economic policy.”

He said that attempts to move toward government actions that prioritize electric vehicles make it more difficult for the trucking industry to pursue other emission-reduction strategies, like a move toward alternative fuel sources like biofuel and ethanol.

At Tuesday’s press conference, Bird also discussed her trip on Monday to New York, where she voiced support for defendant Donald Trump amid the former president’s ongoing criminal trial over alleged hush money payments.

While Bird did not directly answer questions on how the trip was funded, the Des Moines Register reported that the trip came at the invitation of the Republican Attorney Generals Association, and that the organization paid for the travel expenses.

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