Attorney General Knudsen fights Biden administration rule requiring states to reach net-zero highway emissions

HELENA – Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen pushed back today against a Biden administration rule requiring Montana and all other states to reduce on-road carbon dioxide emissions to net-zero by 2050 in two sets of formal comments filed with the U.S. Department of Transportation. The rule, proposed by the Federal Highway Administration, would require the State of Montana to track emissions from drivers on interstate highways and other major roads and ultimately reduce them to net-zero. 

The proposed rule exceeds the authority given to the agency to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and fails to consider the Major Questions doctrine, which was strengthened in a Supreme Court decision earlier this year following a lawsuit by Attorney General Knudsen and other state attorneys general.  

“Federal agencies cannot enact a major policy changes without clear Congressional authorization for the power they claim. Requiring Montana and all other states to track and eliminate tailpipe emissions is clearly a major policy change,” Attorney General Knudsen said. “This is one of a long line of unlawful attempts by the Biden administration to reach in and overregulate the day-to-day lives of Montanans.”  

The rule also violates federalism principles by requiring states to implement a federal regulatory program, violates the Appropriation Clause, and mirrors a rule the agency previously repealed because it was burdensome and duplicative. 

Click here to read the first set of comments. Click here to read the second.