Columbus, OH – On Thursday, The Buckeye Institute filed its amicus brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in Texas v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), calling on the court to stop the U.S. EPA from illegally imposing a de facto electric-vehicle mandate, something it has no authority to do.

“In an attempt to force Americans to buy expensive electric vehicles, the U.S. EPA has misapplied the Clean Air Act to impose the government’s will upon consumers and manufacturers,” said David C. Tryon, director of litigation at The Buckeye Institute. “Instead of admitting the obvious, EPA regulators presume that they know what is best for the American consumer and have devised an illegal bureaucratic boondoggle to force people to buy electric vehicles. The court should rein in this abuse of government power.” 

In its brief, The Buckeye Institute argues that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency exceeded its statutory authority under the Clean Air Act and ignored key facts and issues to justify a regulatory scheme that American consumers do not want, which Congress has not authorized, and which harms Ohioans and Americans. Using the novel theory of “market failure”—which Congress never authorized—to explain why consumers aren’t rushing to purchase electric vehicles, the EPA claimed that the free market must have failed. Therefore, the EPA must step in to correct this “failure” with a government-imposed mandate.  

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