A free market business group whose legal arm is led by two-time former U.S. Attorney General William Barr has filed a federal lawsuit against California over its climate regulations for phasing out diesel-powered heavy-duty vehicles.
The American Free Enterprise Chamber of Commerce – which was launched in 2022 to fight government regulations – filed the lawsuit this week in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, naming California Attorney General Rob Bonta and California Air Resources Board (CARB) Executive Officer Steven Cliff as defendants.
AmFree Chamber and co-plaintiff Associated Equipment Distributors allege that California’s Advanced Clean Fleets (ACF) regulations violate the federal Clean Air Act since the state never obtained a waiver from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to pursue the plan. Under the ACF rules, which kicked in this year, trucking companies must rapidly transition their fleets from diesel-powered to zero-emissions vehicles.
“California’s attempt to effectively abolish the internal combustion engine by forcing Americans to buy EVs is not only illegal but a threat to our American free enterprise,” Barr, who chairs the advisory board at AmFree Chamber’s Center for Legal Action, told Fox News Digital. “This mandate is unlikely to produce any net reduction in carbon emissions, and even if it does, any benefit will be negligible in comparison to the massive costs these mandates impose on our economy and individual American families.”
