(Radio Iowa) – Iowa is among a group of states suing the State of California and the Biden Administration over rules that critics say will force the trucking industry to convert to electric semis before the power grid can support the transition. Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird says it’s the worst nightmare for the supply chain. “Electric trucks are a lot more expensive than the diesel trucks and they barely exist, mostly as prototypes,” Bird says. “Biden and California’s radical ‘green dream’ is unrealistic and it’s out of touch, a fantasy.”

Two dozen states, including Iowa, are going to court to try to block E-P-A rules about emissions from semi tractors’ tailpipes. A separate legal action involving Iowa and 17 other states is challenging California’s plan to require zero carbon emissions from semis operating in California that come from trucking companies with over 50 trucks. That rule would go into effect in 2036.

Iowa Motor Truck Association chairman Scott Szymanek is president of Stutsman, Incorporated, a trucking company based in the small town of Hills, near Iowa City. He says ithe trucking industry cannot convert to electric semis as quickly as the regulations require.  “Battery electric vehicles are a viable option for some trucking operations, such as urban delivery and even school buses, but you cannot move the entire U.S. economy a battery vehicle alone,” he says. “It is simply unrealistic.”

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird speaks during news conference at Housby Co. in Ankeny. She was joined by Dale Decker of Decker Truck Line, on left, and Iowa Motor Truck Association chair Scott Szymanek on right. (RI photo)

Szymanek says renewable diesel fuel has a lower carbon footprint over its life cycle when compared to battery-operated trucks. Dale Decker, the C-E-O of Decker Truck Line, says his company has been testing electric trucks at their facility in Fort Dodge, but Decker says sending battery powered semis out on the highways is unrealistic.  “It’s just not possible with the cost and charge times, the distance, weather factors. Cold, hot changes the distance on where the truck can go, the capability of that truck,” Decker says. “Sure, we’d all like to get there, but pushing this down our throat like this is just not a way to go.”

The U-S Supreme Court recently ruled California can enforce animal welfare rules related to pork that’s produced elsewhere, but sold in California. Bird says she’s disappointed in that ruling, but the attorneys general will argue, as they did in the pork-related case, that California’s rule is a violation of the U-S Constitution’s interstate commerce clause. “California does not have the power to tell another state what to do, particularly when it comes to trucking,” Bird says. “What California is doing is extreme.”

Bird says there are other legal precedents directly related to cases involving the trucking industry that support the effort to block California’s ‘clean fleet’ trucking rules. California officials have said while only six percent of the vehicles on California roads are trucks, those trucks account for a quarter of the state’s transportation-generated greenhouse gas emissions.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird attended Donald Trump’s trial in New York on Monday at the invitation of the Republican Attorneys General Association. She briefly answered a question about the trip during a news conference today (Tuesday) in Ankeny. “I went to New York to show my support for President Trump and to witness what was going on there in that courtroom in Manhattan,” Bird said.

Bird told Iowa reporters no tax dollars were used for the trip. A spokesperson for her campaign later identified the group that paid for it. Bird spoke with New York reporters Monday and said Trump’s trial was a travesty and the charges against the former president were a scam, but during her news conference in Ankeny she spoke about the trial for about 12 seconds. Bird was at a trucking company with Iowa Motor Truck Association representatives to announce legal action against E-V rules for semis.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Board of Directors of the Atlantic Community School District will meet at 5:30pm Wednesday, May 15, 2024 in the Atlantic High School Media Center. The meeting will be open to the public as required in Chapter 20 of the Iowa Code.

AGENDA
1. Call to Order
2. Roll Call
3. Approve Agenda
4. Action Item(s)
a. Approve 2024-2025 Certified Agreement between the Atlantic Education Association and the Atlantic School District
5. Discussion
a. The Atlantic Classified Union will present its initial contract proposal for the 2024-2025 school year between the
Classified Union and the District’s Negotiation Committee.
b. The District’s Negotiation Committee will present its opening proposal to the Atlantic Classified Union and its
representatives.
6. Adjournment
7. Exempt Session
a. The District’s Negotiation Committee will go into an exempt session to review proposals. Meeting closed to the public.