Special to IFN

RALEIGH — N.C. Attorney General Jeff Jackson joined a coalition of 24 attorneys general in challenging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rollback that the agency’s own analysis shows will raise fuel costs and cost consumers more than it saves.

“The EPA’s own numbers show this rollback will raise gas prices and cost families more than it saves. We’re going to court to stop it,” Jackson said.

“The EPA’s recission of the Endangerment Finding is a massive step backward that threatens our efforts to lower costs and keep people safe from extreme weather events,” Gov. Josh Stein added. “I thank Attorney General Jackson for taking action to protect North Carolinians’ pocketbooks and futures.”

The EPA’s analysis shows that eliminating vehicle pollution standards will cost consumers nearly $1.5 trillion in higher fuel and vehicle maintenance costs. Gas prices will increase by 25 cents a gallon by 2035 and up to 75 cents a gallon by 2050, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration cited in the EPA’s own report.

Less fuel-efficient vehicles also cost more to operate over their lifetime. Consumer groups have consistently found that fuel economy standards save families more at the pump than they add to the price of a new car.

North Carolina has spent nearly two decades reducing emissions, cutting them by 21 percent between 2005 and 2022. This rollback will reverse that progress, Jackson said. 

The coalition argues that the EPA’s rollback violates the Clean Air Act and directly contradicts the Supreme Court’s ruling in Massachusetts v. EPA, which held that the agency has the authority and the obligation to regulate these emissions when they endanger public health. The EPA’s original 2009 finding was based on years of scientific review and has been upheld by federal courts. The agency has produced no new science to justify reversing it. In fact, the National Academies of Sciences concluded that the evidence supporting the finding has only grown stronger since 2009.

Attorney General Jackson is joined by the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai’i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.