CA agrees to repeal trucking emissions regulations following court challenge

FIRST ON FOX: California has agreed to drop its Advanced Clean Fleet (ACF) mandates dictating stringent emissions standards for big rigs, following a year-long court battle with an anti-regulations group whose legal arm is led by former Attorney General William Barr.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta and California Air Resources Board (CARB) executive Steven Cliff agreed in court documents filed Friday to withdraw their ACF mandates, leading the American Free Enterprise Chamber of Commerce (AmFree) to drop its legal challenge.

In a document signed by Obama-appointed federal Judge Troy Nunley and obtained by Fox News Digital, Cliff and Bonta agreed to present a repeal proposal for the ACF requirements in a public hearing no later than Oct. 31. They also agreed not to retroactively enforce any such regulations.

While a timeline in the court filing cited California had applied for an environmental waiver from the Biden administration in 2023, AmFree originally sued on ground that Sacramento’s regulations violated the Clean Air Act because a waiver was never obtained.

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The regulations had been in effect since 2024, directing trucking firms to rapidly transition fleets from diesel to zero-emission vehicles. 

At the time, Barr called the move a “threat to our American free enterprise” and suggested the restrictions would lead to “negligible” environmental benefits at best while causing negative economic repercussions.

“This ruling is the final nail in the coffin of California’s crazy attempt to eliminate the traditional trucking sector, and yet another example of Gavin Newsom’s complete failure in California,” said AmFree CEO Gentry Collins.

“Even after the American public resoundingly voted to steer the country in a new direction last November, liberal states like California are hellbent on implementing a green agenda that consumers don’t want and technology cannot support,” said Collins, a former Iowa attorney general.

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“AmFree will remain vigilant, holding blue states to account for their misguided crusade that defies common sense and flies in the face of consumer choice and freedom, and ensuring that completely failed politicians like Gavin Newsom eager to run away from their liberal records are reminded of the disastrous policies that occurred on their watch.” 

The group positions itself as a more free-market alternative to the pro-business stalwart U.S. Chamber of Commerce. 

One major regional trucking outfit celebrated the news, telling Fox News Digital that firms across the country had a shared interest in seeing California’s mandates be reversed.

“Here in Alabama and also across America, we stand up every day for our members to defend free enterprise and stand against failed policies from states like California,” said Alabama Trucking Association CEO Mark Colson.

“We’re proud to unite with AmFree and our allies on the ground in California to accomplish shared goals and get our economy roaring again.”

The nixing of the regs is only the latest in several sudden reversals of green mandates, as Congress has overturned at least three Biden-era EPA waivers that were officially granted to California to allow it to self-regulate its own emissions standards.

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, praised the rollback of California’s clean-cars mandate as a win to “protect American workers and consumers from radical and drastic policy.”

“The impact of California’s waiver would have been felt across the country, harming multiple sectors of our economy and costing hundreds of thousands of jobs in the process,” Moore Capito said.

The big-rig regulations had required operators of several types of fleets to begin transitioning to zero-emissions tractor-trailers.

Fox News Digital reached out to Newsom, Bonta and CARB for comment.