Judge James Hendrix said the Biden administration lacked authority under law to impose the gas emissions rule.
A judge in Texas struck down a Biden administration rule on March 28 that required states to measure and report the greenhouse gas emissions from any vehicles using the national highway system.
The rule was issued by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT)’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) in 2023 as part of President Biden’s efforts to slash carbon emissions in half by 2030.
Specifically, it required state transportation departments and metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) to both measure their transportation-related emissions on the U.S. highway system and set their own emission reduction targets.
Additionally, the measure required state DOTs and MPOs to report biennially on their progress in meeting the declining targets. FHWA would also assess the state’s progress toward achieving those targets, according to the rule.
Texas sued the DOT in December, arguing the agency lacked legal authority from Congress to enact the rule, and that it violates the Administrative Procedure Act.
In his ruling, Judge James Hendrix of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas agreed, stating that the Biden administration lacked authority under law to impose the greenhouse gas emissions performance measure.
‘Regulation Attempts to Override Statutory Text’
“When a regulation attempts to override statutory text, the regulation loses every time, regulations can’t punch holes in the rules Congress has laid down,” the judge wrote, citing a previous case, Djie v. Garland.
“That is what occurred here, the DOT’s 2023 Rule attempts to override Section 150(c)(3)’s clear limitation of authorized performance measures to those that track the physical condition and efficiency of the interstate and national highway systems,” the judge, appointed under President Donald Trump, wrote.
“If the people, through Congress, believe that the states should spend the time and money necessary to measure and report GHG [greenhouse gas] emissions and set declining emission targets, they may do so by amending Section 150 or passing a new law. But an agency cannot make this decision for the people,” he concluded.
A separate lawsuit was also filed in Kentucky in December by 21 other states over the measure. That lawsuit is still pending.
