A federal district court in Texas has concluded that the Department of Transportation (DOT) exceeded its statutory authority when it adopted a rule establishing a greenhouse gas (GHG) performance measure for federally funded highways. Under the rule, states were required to measure highway-related greenhouse gas emission, set targets for GHG emission reductions, and track progress toward such targets. The state of Texas objected to the rule and filed suit.
This rule has a long history. The DOT first adopted a GHG performance measure for highways in 2016, at the end of the Obama Administration. The Trump Administration rescinded this rule in 2018, concluding the DOT lacked authority to adopt a GHG-based performance measure under the relevant statute and was bad policy. After President Biden took office, the DOT reversed course again, proposing a revised GHG highway performance measure in 2022 and finalizing the rule in 2023.
Once the rule was promulgated, Texas promptly filed suit, arguing that the rule exceeded the scope of DOT's statutory authority, is arbitrary and capricious, and violates the federal government's spending power. Last month, Judge Wesley Hendrix sided with Texas, solely on statutory interpretation grounds.
