Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird has joined-in a letter urging the Environmental Protection Agency to deny California’s request for a waiver to implement new standards that she said could ban traditional gas-powered trucks in the state. The Iowa Capital Dispatch reports California requested a preemption waiver to implement administrative rules under 2023 California regulation called “Advanced Clean Fleets,” imposed by the California Air Resources Board.

The rule would ban the sale of larger diesel vehicles beginning in 2036 and ban internal-combustion engines in medium- and heavy-duty vehicles by 2045. The letter, headed by Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers, called for the EPA to deny the state’s request because of its impacts on other states.

image from Phys.org

The letter says “Through Advanced Clean Fleets, California is attempting to export its radical climate agenda to our States, using its large population, market share, and access to international ports on the West Coast to force nationwide compliance with its ban on internal-combustion trucks… An electric-truck mandate in California means more battery electric trucks traveling in our States—a mandate our States did not ask for and do not support.”

Bird also joined a lawsuit headed by Nebraska opposing the regulations, which she and other opponents argue would force trucking companies across the country to have entirely electric vehicle fleets by 2042. In a May news conference, Bird said allowing California to adopt these state regulations would result in supply chain problems and increase costs for consumers, as trucking companies would have to comply with these standards to operate in the state, even if the companies are based outside of California.

Bird reiterated these arguments in a Tuesday statement on joining the letter, saying “California does not get to make the rules for the rest of the country.”

Alongside Iowa and Nebraska, attorneys general in 22 other states signed onto the letter.