A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked the US administration from withholding funds awarded to 14 states including California, New York, Illinois and Washington under the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program, part of President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.
US District Judge Tana Lin in Seattle ruled that the states were likely to succeed in a lawsuit alleging that the federal government was illegally withholding billions of dollars awarded to states under the NEVI Formula Program. Lin said in her ruling that states were harmed by the administration’s policy shift because they had dedicated their own resources to EV infrastructure in the expectation of further funding from the federal government.
In February, the US Transportation Department suspended the $5-billion NEVI Formula Program, and rescinded prior approval of states’ spending plans.
Lin’s ruling did not apply to the District of Columbia, Minnesota and Vermont, which also sued over the funding rescission but did not provide evidence that they would suffer immediate harm as a result of the Transportation Department decision.
The states said in their lawsuit that the administration’s withholding of the funds “will devastate the ability of states to build the charging infrastructure necessary for making EVs accessible to more consumers.”
“The administration cannot dismiss programs illegally, like the bipartisan Electric Vehicle Infrastructure formula program, just so that the president’s Big Oil friends can continue basking in record-breaking profits,” said California Attorney General Rob Bonta.
The federal government is comprehensively dismantling support for the US EV industry. Congress is also moving to end tax credits for EV purchases, repeal vehicle emissions rules, impose new taxes on EV owners, deactivate EV charging stations installed by the General Services Administration, and sell off $1.5 billion worth of EVs that the Postal Service has already bought and paid for.
The latest ruling is unlikely to prove more than a temporary setback to the government’s anti-EV crusade. Lin’s ruling will take effect in seven days, giving the administration time to file an appeal and ask an appellate court to block her ruling from taking effect.
Source: Reuters
