CHARLESTON — West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey is leading an amicus brief with Kansas, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia and Wyoming in support of a lawsuit filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia by 16 states against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
At the heart of the lawsuit is EPA’s so-called final rule, a “regulatory scheme that tries to force people into electric vehicles while disregarding that mandate’s serious consequences.”
“This rule, if allowed to be fully implemented, will undoubtedly cause the United States to be dependent on other nations, like China, for the supplies and materials needed for these vehicles,” Attorney General Morrisey said. “This forces auto makers to produce more electric vehicles based on fear of gasoline’s environmental consequences. As we mentioned in the brief, this will make the United States ‘more beholden to foreign interests who control both the rare earth materials and the electrical components that electric vehicles require.’”
The brief outlines the issues with the EPA’s final rule, including that it undermines the nation’s energy security and independence, increases demand and strain on the already vulnerable power grids and makes the U.S. more dependent on other countries for batteries and motor production, among other things.
Attorney General Morrisey’s amicus brief supports the challenge filed by Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas and Utah.