A Kentucky federal court—in line with AGC litigation support—agrees with an earlier Texas court ruling striking down a FHWA regulation that would have diverted federal-aid highway construction funding to more non-construction uses, like the purchase of buses, Amtrak cars, and EV charging stations.
A Kentucky federal court agreed with an earlier Texas court ruling striking down the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) greenhouse gas rule. This FHWA regulation would have diverted states highway funds towards non-construction activities like Amtrak trains, electric vehicle chargers, and buses. AGC supported the legal challenge because the rule would have required states to measure and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
If you are thinking this story sounds familiar, you are correct. AGC recently reported that a Texas federal court also struck down the rule. That is because there were two separate AGC-supported efforts to halt the rule in separate states claiming FHWA lacked authority to issue this regulation. This now means AGC is “two for two” in its legal challenges on this issue.
FHWA has halted enforcement of this rule. As such, states do not have to set greenhouse gas emissions targets and alter their project selection to hit these targets. We will now be watching to see if FHWA attempts to appeal these decisions.
Thank you for all of your help with sending in action alerts and for your contributions to the Construction Advocacy Fund which made AGC’s involvement in these lawsuits possible. We will keep you updated on any appeals and subsequent rulings that are file going forward.