Biden Admin Slapped With Lawsuit Over Sweeping Vehicle Fuel Efficiency Rule

A coalition of industry groups and businesses filed a lawsuit Wednesday challenging a Biden administration rule requiring vehicle manufacturers to drastically improve the fuel economy of their fleets in the coming years.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) rule will require vehicle manufacturers to gradually increase the fuel efficiency of their vehicles, with model year 2032 vehicles expected to have an average efficiency of 51.4 miles per gallon. Industry groups argue that NHTSA’s rule should be vacated because the agency exceeded its legal authority and promulgated a rule that violates federal law by being “arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion and not in accordance with law.”

The Biden administration’s regulation would require auto manufacturers to drastically improve the current fuel economy of their vehicles as the Environmental Protection Agency estimated that the average efficiency for 2023 model year vehicles was just 26.9 miles per gallon, up about one mile per gallon from the previous year.

Interest groups suing the Biden administration over the rule believe its ambitious fuel efficiency standards “appear ultimately designed to phase out liquid fuel powered vehicles,” according to a press release.

“Combined with tailpipe emissions standards from D.C. and California bureaucrats, this is yet another attempt to circumvent Congress and effectively ban new vehicles using liquid fuels that American drivers rely on every single day,” American Petroleum Institute Senior Vice President and General Counsel Ryan Meyers said in the release