Dive Brief:
- U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy repealed the Biden-era rule requiring states to monitor and report transportation-related emissions on interstate highways and other major roads.
- The rule also required states to establish two-year and four-year statewide targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and required metropolitan planning organizations to set four-year targets for their planning areas.
- The rule ran into opposition from Republican leaders and was the target of a lawsuit filed in Texas by 22 states and a separate lawsuit filed by 21 Republican state attorneys general in Kentucky. Because of the lawsuits, the greenhouse gas reporting rule was never implemented.
Dive Insight:
Duffy said in an April 18 statement that he “slashed this ridiculous climate requirement to ensure no radical political agenda gets in the way of revitalizing America’s highways.”
Road builders, trucking companies and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials supported the action, which takes effect May 19, 2025. AASHTO Executive Director Jim Tymon said in a statement that it appreciates the DOT’s action to repeal the rule.
“Repealing the GHG rule removes a regulatory burden that would have increased project costs and imposed Washington, D.C., priorities on state transportation decisions,” said American Road & Transportation Builders Association President and CEO Dave Bauer in a statement.
American Trucking Associations Senior Vice President of Regulatory Affairs and Safety Policy Dan Horvath said the trucking industry “strongly supports” the repeal. “This heavy-handed approach would have scrambled local priorities and undermined highway expansion projects, leading to greater traffic congestion and higher shipping costs that contribute to inflation,” he said in a statement.
Supporters of the greenhouse gas performance rule expressed concern about its demise. Steven Higashide, clean transportation program director at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said in an email that it is “deeply disappointing to see the US DOT go along with vested interests in the road-building industry.” He added, “States can and must step up in the absence of federal leadership.”
