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Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall Announces EPA Closure of California’s Advanced Clean Fleets Waiver Request

Attorney General Marshall Announces Victory on EPA Filing After California Quietly Withdrew Waiver

Montgomery, AL – Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall has announced that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has officially closed the file on California’s request for a waiver to implement its Advanced Clean Fleets regulation. The decision marks a significant victory for Alabama and 23 other states that opposed the waiver.

“The fanciful policies of California will never work in Alabama,” Marshall said. “There is no way that every small business that works in California could afford electric trucks, some of which cost $400,000, not to mention the cost to install charging stations and the costs of maintenance. My colleagues and I will always step in when California attempts to mandate nationwide compliance with its radical, unworkable, and destructive policies. Thankfully, reason and the rule of law prevailed this time.”

In September 2024, Marshall joined a 24-state coalition led by Nebraska in filing a formal comment letter with the EPA opposing California’s request. The coalition argued that California’s Advanced Clean Fleets regulation, which sought to impose electric-truck mandates on fleet owners, operators, and manufacturers, would disrupt the nation’s logistics and transportation industries.

The regulation aimed to require compliance even for trucking companies that operate in California for just one day per year. Under the Clean Air Act, such regulations cannot be enforced without an EPA waiver. The coalition’s letter contended that granting the waiver would exceed California’s statutory and regulatory authority and set a dangerous precedent for federal and state relations.

While the EPA had recently approved several other California regulatory requests, it declined to act on the Advanced Clean Fleets waiver. In response, California withdrew its request via letter, prompting the EPA to officially close the file.

Alabama joined the coalition alongside attorneys general from Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

Marshall emphasized the importance of continued vigilance in protecting state autonomy from California’s regulatory overreach. “This decision reaffirms that Alabama and other states will not be forced to adopt policies that are unfeasible and detrimental to our local economies,” he said.

The closure of this waiver request marks a notable moment in the ongoing debate over state versus federal authority in environmental policy, as well as the role of ambitious climate initiatives in shaping the future of transportation.

 

Attorney General Marshall Announces Victory on EPA Filing After California Quietly Withdrew Waiver

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