California Sues OEMs Over Clean Truck Partnership
DTNA, International, Paccar and Volvo Say They’re Caught in Middle Between White House, CARB
Key Takeaways:
- California is suing four OEMs over the Clean Truck Partnership.
- DTNA, International, Paccar and Volvo argue they're caught in the middle between the White House and CARB.
- The parties are scheduled to meet in court Nov. 21.
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The state of California is suing four truck manufacturers over what the state claims is the companies’ breach of an emissions-centric agreement known as the Clean Truck Partnership.
In an Oct. 27 complaint filed in Alameda County Superior Court, the office of state Attorney General Rob Bonta argued that Daimler Truck North America, International Motors, Paccar and Volvo Group North America are violating the terms of an enforceable contract signed in 2023 with the California Air Resources Board.
Under the terms of that contract, the four manufacturers along with the Truck and Engine Manufacturers Association agreed to comply with state-specific mandates for the sale of zero-emission vehicles in exchange for more time to come into compliance with other emissions limits the state had set.
The state’s authority to set its own emissions limits was stripped away in June, however, when President Donald Trump via executive order reversed a waiver issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency permitting it to do so.
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The OEMs in an August complaint argued this action prevents California from requiring them to comply with the Clean Truck Partnership, as the state-specific laws contained therein are no longer valid. Plus, the companies are under separate order from the U.S. Department of Justice to halt compliance efforts with the California regulatory construct.
“Defendants have already or will soon breach the terms of the contract requiring them to sell clean vehicles in California,” Bonta argued in the state’s lawsuit. “CARB will suffer injury by defendants’ breach of the contract. The particular benefits for which CARB bargained — especially emissions reductions from the sale of cleaner vehicles — are such that a money damages remedy would not make CARB whole.”
The parties are scheduled to meet in court Nov. 21.
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Days before the lawsuit was filed, CARB Chairwoman Lauren Sanchez offered insight into the agency’s agenda. “California has led the world in cleaning up the air we breathe — but the fight isn’t over,” she said in a statement Oct. 23. “Now, the federal government is stripping away the tools we need to meet the air quality standards they set, then threatening to punish us for falling short. It’s a deliberate catch-22 that hurts the communities already suffering most.”
Sanchez added, “We won’t back down. We’ll keep fighting for clean air and healthy communities across California.”
The manufacturers stressed in their complaint that they’re caught in the middle of a fight between California and the White House.
“The OEMs are in an impossible position,” they argued. “On the one hand, California insists that plaintiff OEMs must follow CARB’s standards, including CARB’s truck and engine certification requirements, or be excluded from the California market, subjected to significant civil penalties, shut out of special considerations and flexibilities in future regulatory considerations, and excluded from state purchasing and incentive programs.”
“On the other hand,” per the lawsuit, “the United States Department of Justice has issued cease-and-desist letters to plaintiff OEMs stating that those same standards are invalid and unlawful, such that only the EPA regulations apply, and that the cornerstone of CARB’s new enforcement efforts, the Clean Truck Partnership, is itself pre-empted by federal law.”
Promises made, promises kept.
Thank you for having truckers' backs and repealing California's destructive EV mandates. — American Trucking (@TRUCKINGdotORG)
California has long campaigned for a zero-emission future for commercial and consumer vehicles on its roads, a plan long criticized by industry firms and freight stakeholders for being unrealistic.
American Trucking Associations President Chris Spear in June thanked Trump, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin and congressional leadership for “taking decisive action to end crippling, detached-from-reality rulemakings that would have imposed devastating economic consequences on American businesses and families.”
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