Attorney General Hilgers Announces Victory in Challenge to Illegal “Clean Truck Partnership”

Lincoln, NE—Attorney General Mike Hilgers announced resolution of Nebraska’s pending lawsuit challenging the Clean Truck Partnership. Today’s announcement reflects the manufacturers of heavy-duty trucks stating that California’s heavy-duty electric truck mandate is “void.” This announcement is a significant victory for the trucking industry, Nebraska, and the country.

“Our economy depends on diesel-powered semi-trucks, the companies that provide them, and the truckers that drive them. That industry is critical to keeping costs low for consumers and to supplying rural America. That industry has been under assault by California, and today’s victory ensures that the availability and costs of those trucks will be dictated by market forces, not unelected bureaucrats in another state,” said Attorney General Hilgers.

Last November, Attorney General Hilgers sued the manufacturers for signing the Clean Truck Partnership—an agreement that they would abide by California’s electric-truck mandates even if those mandates were unlawful. The lawsuit, filed in Lincoln County, sought a ruling that the Clean Truck Partnership is “void,” and today, the parties filed a joint stipulation of dismissal where the manufacturers recognized that the Partnership is indeed “void.”

This settlement amounts to a significant victory in Nebraska’s three-front battle against shortsighted and damaging electric-truck mandates. First, in response to a Nebraska-led lawsuit, California agreed to repeal its electric-truck mandates that reached well beyond California’s borders. Second, the Trump Administration’s Environmental Protection Agency recently agreed to outright repeal the Biden-Harris Administration’s federal electric-truck mandate that Nebraska led 24 states in challenging. And now, without admitting liability, each of the truck manufacturers has acknowledged California’s unlawful attempt to move the industry away from the internal-combustion engines that power the Nation’s logistics industry.

“Today is a culmination of a multi-front war that Nebraska has waged against a destructive ideological agenda. I am grateful for our team and partners, and in particular, thank the Lincoln County Board of Commissioners for their support of this lawsuit. The Board, and in particular Commissioners Bruns and Hewgley, are champions of Nebraska’s logistics industry, and have been important partners in our success.  I am also grateful to each of the defendants in the litigation for their assistance in achieving this resolution,” stated Attorney General Hilgers. 

The Energy Marketers of America and Renewable Fuels Nebraska joined as co-plaintiffs in the Nebraska-led lawsuit.