OKLAHOMA CITY (April 3 2024) – In one of Attorney General Gentner Drummond’s many efforts to push back against the Biden Administration’s ceaseless attacks on the oil and gas industry, a federal judge on Monday blocked a highway emissions rule that sought to drive gas-powered cars off the road. Drummond and 20 other state attorneys general had joined Kentucky in challenging a Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) rule that sought to force the reduction of CO2 emissions on roadways.
If the FHWA rule had not been struck down, it would have required states to set targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from on-road sources. Multiple states noted the FHWA rule would spur the elimination of future economic development and job creation projects.
“Oklahomans cannot afford the high cost of the Biden Administration’s war against the oil and gas industry,” said Drummond. “I am thankful for our recent victory against the Biden Administration, and I look forward to continuing my fight against federal overreach.”
Drummond joined Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman in the FHWA suit alongside attorneys general from Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming.
The FHWA dustup is the latest front in Drummond’s ongoing work guarding against federal overreach that threatens an industry responsible for hundreds of thousands of Oklahoma jobs.
Last month, the Attorney General and a coalition of 15 other state attorneys general filed suit against President Biden and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) over their unlawful decision to ban new liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports. The suit was filed March 21 in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana.
In January, Biden and the DOE halted all new approvals of LNG exports to non-Free-Trade Agreement countries, effective immediately. That decision ignores clear text of the Natural Gas Act and departs from decades of agency policy. Just six months ago, the DOE had even acknowledged that “there is no factual or legal basis” for halting approval of LNG exports.
Biden’s decision causes serious harm to plaintiff states and local communities that count on LNG-related investments and the energy sector itself. The ban would also disrupt the development and production of natural gas.
In July 2023 Drummond joined 24 attorneys general challenging the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) radical regulation on tailpipe emissions. In its efforts to boost EV sales, the Biden Administration was attempting to phase out gas-powered vehicles, a move that would adversely affect all Oklahomans.
The following month, Drummond joined a coalition of 21 states opposing the EPA’s rule on existing coal-, natural gas- and oil-fired power plants. This rule would impose overbearing and unnecessarily strict emission standards.
Read the order from the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky at https://www.oag.ok.gov/sites/g/files/gmc766/f/documents/2024/fhwa_case-o...
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