Nebraska v. Cliff

Sixteen states, the Arizona State Legislature, and Nebraska Trucking Association filed a lawsuit in the federal district court for the Eastern District of California challenging California’s Advanced Clean Fleets regulation. The plaintiffs alleged that the regulation—which includes battery-electric truck mandates for “high priority” fleets, an internal-combustion truck ban for manufacturers, a drayage truck battery-electric requirement, and state and local government batter-electric truck requirements—would result in “dramatic and deleterious effects that extend far beyond the California border,” including increased costs to consumers, less efficient trucking, and strains on supply chains due to some fleet companies being forced out of business. The plaintiffs alleged that the regulation “masquerades as a rule for in-state conduct” but that “by leveraging California’s large population and access to international ports on the West Coast, Advanced Clean Fleets exports its ‘in-state’ ban nationwide, creating harms which are certain to reach Plaintiffs’ States.” The complaint asserted that the Clean Air Act and the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act of 1994 preempt Advanced Clean Fleets and that the program violates the dormant Commerce Clause.