Four major trucking manufacturers including, Daimler Truck, Volvo, Paccar and International are filing suit against the Clean Truck Partnership (CTP) and California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
According to a Sunrise Project media release, the agreement with the California Air Resources Board aims to secure the future of the trucking industry by increasing the number of clean, high-tech trucks and helping businesses avoid high diesel prices.
Lawsuit Basis
According to court records, the case originates from California’s violation of a prohibition in the Clean Air Act that expressly bars any state from adopting or attempting to enforce any standards relating to the control of emissions from new heavy-duty vehicles and engines without a waiver of federal preemption.
“In June, pursuant to the Congressional Review Act, the federal government statutorily preempted California’s emissions standards governing heavy-duty vehicles and engines,” the suit said “Notwithstanding that new legislation, California continues to demand compliance with its heavy-duty emissions standards, and it has threatened original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) that design, develop, manufacture and sell heavy-duty vehicles and engines—four of whom are plaintiffs here—with civil sanctions and unfavorable regulatory treatment if the OEMs refuse to comply with the state’s unlawful standards, while also taking measures to insulate itself from lawful challenges to those standards.”
Congress passed the resolutions under the Congressional Review Act that nullified EPA’s earlier waivers allowing California to implement three key programs:
- The Advanced Clean Trucks regulation.
- The Omnibus Low NOx regulation.
- Parts of Advanced Clean Cars II.
President Trump signed off on the resolutions.
The U.S. Department of Justice has since alerted manufacturers that these programs and the Clean Truck Partnership are preempted by federal law.
Caught in the Crossfire
“The lawsuit paints wealthy truck manufacturers as victims, stating ‘the OEMs are in an impossible position’ and ‘plaintiffs are caught in the crossfire’ between California’s rules and federal moves against them,” Sunrise said. “But major truck makers like Daimler and Volvo have been lobbying through industry associations to bring down California’s laws and have been undermining them in the states which have also adopted them.”
According to the court filing, the complaint states that manufacturers are now caught between conflicting directives with California requiring adherence to its rules, and the U.S. Department of Justice telling them to stop following the same standards.
Additionally plaintiffs say the agreement initially aimed to align state and federal standards, but is now being used to enforce regulations that no longer have federal waivers. The complaint also challenges certain provisions in the agreement that limit the OEM’s ability to contest CARB regulations.
Trucking Titans Ban Together
“Together the four manufacturers taking the legal case control the vast majority of the truck sales market – with Daimler controlling around 40% and Volvo controlling around 15%,” Sunrise said. “Both have made commitments for all new truck sales to be carbon free but Daimler sells less than 1% electric trucks and Volvo around 1.7%.”
The plaintiffs say that CARB is unlawfully pursuing emissions standards that were removed when President Donald Trump reversed emissions waivers issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that allowed California to set its own emissions limits.
Not all manufacturers are against regulations on emissions standards and electric trucks. Cummins, in response to proposals for EPA rollbacks said they were looking “forward to working with the EPA on providing regulatory certainty” to their customers, according to Sunrise.
Stepping Away from the CTP
Some manufacturers who have signaled the need for regulatory certainty are now part of this lawsuit to get out of the CTP, according to Sunrise.
Traton CEO Christian Levin, parent company of International, said the proposed EPA rollbacks on emissions regulations are causing “a lot of insecurity and actually frustration” for manufacturers, their dealers, and their customers, increasing market uncertainty and jeopardizing pre-buys.
Last week, 18 business groups, clean freight advocates and public health organizations wrote to truck manufacturers, including the four filing suit, warning that walking away from the CTP would hurt the trucking industry. The groups included Public Citizen, Oregon Business for Climate, Sierra Club, and Natural Resources Defense (NRCD) Council, according to Sunrise.
California Air Resources Board
“Do these companies have any idea how to sell their own products,” said Craig Segall, former deputy executive officer and assistant chief counsel for CARB. “Imagine being a truck company, working for years towards an agreement with the world’s fourth largest economy that helps you sell electric trucks and finance infrastructure despite federal uncertainty… and then burning your regulators and destroying shareholder value by blowing up that agreement. Red flags abound.”
Natural Resources Defense Council
Guillermo Ortiz, senior clean vehicles advocate, NRDC, said the lawsuit is a course correction.
“Daimler and Volvo’s lawsuit is a cynical reversal of course,” Ortiz said. “These companies helped negotiate the Clean Truck Partnership to secure regulatory certainty. Now they’re trying to dismantle the very deal they shaped—injecting instability into a market they claim to lead. This is bad faith, plain and simple, and it raises questions about whether these manufacturers are serious about their ability to deliver clean trucks to the global stage.”
Public Citizen’s Climate Program
“This lawsuit does not pass the sniff test,” said Adam Zuckerman, senior clean vehicles campaigner with Public Citizen’s Climate Program. “The Clean Truck Partnership was designed exactly for a moment like this. In order to create market certainty, truck makers agreed to abide by the CTP regardless of federal action. These companies are now trying to wiggle out of the commitments they made. If they are allowed to abandon their commitment to California, it will be our communities, the rule of law, and the hundreds of businesses that have invested in electric trucks that will suffer.”
Dana Guthrie is an award-winning journalist who has been featured in multiple newspapers, books and magazines across the globe. She is currently based in the Atlanta, Georgia, area.
