Minnesota and a coalition of 17 states and the District of Columbia are suing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over the agency's rollback of Obama-era vehicle emissions and fuel economy standards.

The federal standards the states are suing to protect — for model year 2022-2025 vehicles — are estimated to reduce carbon pollution equivalent to 134 coal-fired power plants operating for a year and to save drivers $1,650 per vehicle, state officials said. "The car industry is on track to meet or exceed these standards," read a news release from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.

Last year, the EPA affirmed these standards were appropriate based on an extensive review of data. On April 13, 2018 the EPA reversed course and claimed that the GHG emissions standards for model years 2022-2025 vehicles should be eliminated. The lawsuit claims the EPA "acted arbitrarily and capriciously," failed to follow its own Clean Car regulations, and violated the Clean Air Act in rolling back the regulations.



"We can see no justification, nor any documented need, to set these protections back," Commissioner John Linc Stine of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency said in a statement. "That's why we joined this lawsuit on behalf of Minnesota citizens," says Commissioner Charles Zelle of the Minnesota Department of Transportation.

States suing the EPA include California, Minnesota, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and the District of Columbia.



California is leading the coalition.



Earlier this month Commissioners Stine and Zelle co-signed a letter to EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt urging him to rescind the EPA plan to withdraw from the established emission standards. These comments are excerpted from the Minnesota letter to EPA: