An ongoing debate considers whether or not the U.S. government can impose new restrictions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions on the country’s highways. Last fall, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) released a new rule that would require state and local transportation officials to set declining goals for greenhouse gas emissions stemming from road projects that are funded with federal money.
The rule was a response to climate activists who have voiced concern that more federally funded transportation projects, without restrictions, could promote further dependence on cars for future generations. Climate advocates argued that the new rule could instead encourage state and local governments to invest in public transportation as well as improved pedestrian and bicyclist options. “Communities across the nation have a lot to benefit from this rule, which will serve as a tool as states plan for new infrastructure projects,” Jesse Piedfort, deputy director of the transportation-for-all campaign at the Sierra Club, told E&E News after the rule was announced.
However, in April 2024, the Senate voted 53-47 in favor of a resolution that would block the rule. The resolution was largely supported by Republicans but also had support from three Democrats: Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Jon Tester of Montana and Joe Manchin of West Virginia. Those in favor of the resolution argued that the FHWA’s rule represented represented executive overreach and could cause economic damage.
“Today, the Senate rejected the Biden administration’s attempt to ignore the letter of the bipartisan infrastructure law and impose its extreme climate agenda on states across the country,” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), ranking member of the Environment and Public Works Committee and co-sponsor of the resolution, said in a statement. “Beyond the economic harm a greenhouse gas emissions requirement would cause, the main problem with the FHWA issuing this regulation is it simply lacks the authority to do so.”
Others in support of the resolution also argued that the lack of nuance in the FHWA’s rule could impose burdens on more rural parts of the country. “New York and North Dakota have very different transportation systems, needs, and capabilities, but under this one-size-fits-all mandate, they’re effectively treated the same,” Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), ranking member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Transportation and Infrastructure, said in a statement.
“A subway stop at a cattle ranch is silly and unserious, and so is the idea of widespread EV use in North Dakota. Nearly half the Senate co-sponsored this resolution from the onset, showing strong appetite for this rule to be defeated.” The Senate resolution came after at least two federal judges ruled that the FHWA’s rule was unlawful and overstepped the agency’s legal authority. One of the rulings came from a lawsuit brought by 21 state attorneys general.
“President Biden’s radical environmental agenda has lost touch with reality, and Kentucky families, farmers and workers are paying the price,” Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman, who led the coalition of attorneys general, said in a statement. “Like all Americans, Kentuckians love our trucks, cars and vans. With this victory in court, we’re slamming the brakes on the Biden Administration’s politics that make no sense in the Commonwealth.”
Meanwhile, lawmakers in support of the FHWA’s rule argued that it could help reduce a significant contributor to global warming. “The transportation sector … is the single-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, accounting for nearly thirty percent of our emissions economywide,” Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said in a statement defending the FHWA’s rule.
“This means that the cars, the trucks, the buses driven on our highways every day are a major source of the emissions that are warming this planet that we call home. And that is why the Federal Highway Administration’s greenhouse gas performance rule is so important and must be upheld by Congress.”
In spite of the Senate’s passage of the resolution aimed at blocking the FHWA’s rule, it’s unlikely that the measure will stop the rule’s implementation as the resolution has not yet been voted on by the House, and the White House has said that President Biden would veto the measure if it is sent to him.
For more background, see the May 2022 issue of Congressional Digest on the “Green New Deal.”
