Groups challenge Minnesota zero-emission vehicle mandate

The Minnesota Service Station & Convenience Store Association and NACS, along with the Minnesota Soybean Growers Association, Clean Fuels Development Coalition, and ICM filed a lawsuit on March 13 against the state of Minnesota for its adoption of California’s “zero-emission vehicle” mandate. “The state shouldn’t let California tell Minnesotans what kinds of cars they can and can’t buy. Politicians have a terrible track record of deciding which technology will best meet peoples’ needs, and California politicians even more so.

This mandate is bad for Minnesota consumers, businesses and the state economy. Minnesota fuelling stations are open to exploring all energy options through a free-market approach, including homegrown biofuels and electrification,” says Lance Klatt, executive director of the Minnesota Service Station & Convenience Store Association.

The lawsuit challenges the legality of Minnesota Pollution Control Agency rules requiring that new cars, light-duty trucks and medium-duty vehicles in the state meet emission limits set by California and match California’s requirements for the sale of a certain percentage of “zero-emission vehicles,” as defined by California regulators.

“Some of the most significant reductions in carbon emissions from transportation have come from using more renewable fuels and more efficient internal combustion engines.

Adopting California’s rules in Minnesota would stop further investments in efficient use of renewables and other liquid fuels and would result in more net carbon emissions than we would have without these misguided rules,” said Henry O. Armour, President and CEO of NACS.

The lawsuit contends that the federal Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA), which creates a uniform national standard for vehicle fuel efficiency, prohibits states from adopting policies “related to” federal fuel-economy standards.