Court strikes down Biden rule requiring states and cities to set climate targets for transportation

A federal court on Wednesday night struck down a Biden administration rule requiring states and cities to set climate targets for transportation.

Judge James Hendrix, a Trump appointee, agreed with the Republican-led states that sued over the rule that the Biden administration did not have the authority to require them to set the targets.

Hendrix argued that the administration was not authorized under law to include environmental benchmarks in states’ assessment of highway “performance.”

He wrote that the law referring to the “performance of the Interstate/National Highway Systems” refers to “the infrastructure’s effectiveness in facilitating travel, commerce, and national defense—not environmental outputs of vehicles using the systems.”

The rule, from the Federal Highway Administration, required state and local transit authorities to set targets for decreasing planet-warming emissions and report on its progress. It also set up a national framework for measuring and reporting transportation-related emissions. 

A spokesperson for the highway administration, which is part of the Transportation Department, said the agency was reviewing the decision and figuring out next steps. The spokesperson stressed the administration’s commitment to combatting climate change. 

Meanwhile, congressional Republicans cheered the court’s action. 

“This was a clear case of blatant overreach by the Biden Administration from the beginning, and we commend the Court for its ruling,” said a joint statement from Reps. Sam Graves (R-Mo.) and Rick Crawford (R-Ark.). 

They described the rule as an “unlawful attempt to circumvent Congress and force this one-size-fits-all burden upon every state and community across the country.”