FRANKFORT, KY (Feb. 4, 2025) – Attorney General Russell Coleman announced today the long-awaited defeat of the Biden Administration’s burdensome emissions regulations from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA).
In 2023, Kentucky led a coalition of 21 states to challenge the Biden Administration’s attempt to drive gas-powered cars off the road. The FHWA rule would have forced states to set declining emissions targets for vehicles that travel on federal interstates and highways. It was just one of the previous administration’s attempts to force a partisan green agenda on Kentucky families. Estimates show that the cost to establish initial emissions targets required hundreds of hours of manpower, costing each state over $600,000.
In April 2024, a federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky declared the FHWA rule was unlawful. The Biden Administration appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Since taking office, President Trump withdrew the former president’s position and FHWA moved to voluntarily dismiss the appeal, delivering a victory for the attorneys general and allowing the district court’s ruling to stand.
“President Trump promised to end the Biden Administration’s illegal and illogical EV mandates. We beat one of these out-of-touch mandates in federal court right here in Kentucky, and now President Trump has solidified our victory,” said Attorney General Coleman. “Together, we slammed the brakes on President Biden’s partisan agenda and cleared the way for all Americans to be free to drive gas-powered trucks, cars and vans.”
Attorney General Coleman was joined in the FHWA suit by attorneys general from Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming.
The Attorney General’s Principal Deputy Solicitor General Jack Heyburn prepared the Commonwealth’s brief in the Sixth Circuit along with Solicitor General Matt Kuhn and Assistant Solicitor General Jacob Abrahamson. Deputy Executive Director of the Attorney General’s Office of Civil and Environmental Law Lindsey Keiser, Counsel for Special Litigation Vic Maddox and Executive Director of the Attorney General’s Office of Civil and Environmental Law Aaron Silletto handled the matter in District Court.
Read the Trump Administration’s motion to dismiss the appeal.
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