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LANSING — Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has joined a coalition of 26 states, counties, and cities in filing a lawsuit (PDF) against the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) challenging its final rule weakening corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards for new passenger cars and light trucks. Historically, NHTSA’s standards have reduced consumer costs by improving fuel efficiency for vehicles, placed downward pressure on gas prices by reducing fuel consumption, protected the U.S. economy from global oil shocks, and reduced pollution from tailpipes and refineries. However, the final rule significantly weakens fuel economy standards and hurts both consumers and the environment.
In the lawsuit filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, the coalition alleges that NHTSA’s new rule is contrary to law and that NHTSA contravenes its mandate from Congress to set fuel economy standards at their “maximum feasible” level. Far from “maximum feasible,” NHTSA’s backsliding standards for the next five years require less efficiency than what the U.S. fleet actually achieved in 2021.
“Michigan knows better than most what is at stake when it comes to fuel economy and the future of the auto industry,” said Attorney General Nessel. “The government should be encouraging automotive innovation that our workers, manufacturers and communities have helped drive for generations. This new rule leaves Michigan families more exposed than ever to the swings of global oil prices and I stand firmly with my colleagues in telling NHTSA it’s time to follow the Congressional mandate.”
In 1975, Congress enacted the Energy Policy and Conservation Act, which requires NHTSA to establish “maximum feasible” fuel economy standards for new vehicles that reflect technological feasibility, economic practicability, the effect of other motor vehicle standards of the government, and the need to conserve energy.
The final rule misinterprets NHTSA’s statutory authority and improperly forces the agency to ignore the presence of millions of electric vehicles in the nation’s existing fleet, leading to a flawed and dramatically distorted analysis of the “maximum feasible” fuel economy level that the auto industry can achieve. NHTSA’s novel reinterpretation of the law renders the federal fuel economy program toothless, unable to protect consumers against rising gas prices or the ongoing global oil shock from President Trump’s war.
In their lawsuit, the coalition alleges that NHTSA’s final rule is arbitrary and capricious and violates the Administrative Procedure Act and the Energy Policy and Conservation Act.
In filing this lawsuit, Attorney General Nessel joins the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawai‘i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and the City and County of San Francisco, as well as the City of Chicago, the City and County of Denver, and the City of New York.
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