CTA Sues CARB
You might remember the defense that the California Trucking Association (CTA) and other industry stakeholders used when first fighting against California AB-5, that being, it butts against the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act (F4A) of 1994, dealing in interstate commerce. While the AB-5 case did not make it to a Supreme Court hearing, that is not stopping the CTA from using the same logic against the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) regulations regarding Advanced Clean Fleets.
Details
Advanced Clean Fleets is a regulatory plan that requires commercial fleets operating in California to slowly but surely transition away from fossil fuels. The CTA wants nothing to do with it.
“Litigation was not our desired path concerning the industry’s transition to zero emissions, but conflict was inevitable once it became clear that CARB embraced a make-believe view of what could be accomplished with today’s technology and infrastructure,” CTA said in a statement. “In doing so, the agency violated multiple state and federal laws and, accordingly, these issues will be brought before the courts by CTA and multiple other entities.”
CTA continues in its statement, opening the lawsuit against CARB. “Because the ACF regulation is aimed at transforming not only the vehicles sold within California’s borders, but virtually any vehicle that enters those borders, CARB has disregarded what the United States Supreme Court has declared to be Congress’s carefully calibrated regulatory scheme.”
Conclusion
We are not lawyers nor judges, so it is hard for us to say with certainty how this lawsuit will turn out. Oftentimes the ruling comes down to judicial opinion and interpretation of the law, just as how the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals had dissenting judges who argued AB-5 should not apply to trucking.
The most likely result is that the judicial system will say the Advanced Clean Fleets regulation applies to trucking companies with headquarters or primary business operations in California, but will not allow California to dictate how a fleet from Iowa runs its business in interstate commerce. This is all conjecture, of course, so everyone will have to wait and see how it unravels. We will keep you posted.
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