US transportation secretary Sean P Duffy has repealed a Biden-era rule requiring states to monitor and report transportation-related emissions on interstate highways and other major roads.
According to Duffy, the Greenhouse Gas Rule was “unlawful” and would have led to increased project costs and diverted critical resources away from highway construction to “irrelevant emissions targets.”
The action, which is the Department of Transportation’s first completed deregulatory move, comes less than 100 days into the Trump administration.
“Under President Trump’s leadership, we are going to build great, big, beautiful things again. I slashed this ridiculous climate requirement to ensure no radical political agenda gets in the way of revitalizing America’s highways,” said US transportation secretary Sean P Duffy.
The Greenhouse Gas Rule also required states to establish two-year and four-year statewide targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and required metropolitan planning organizations to set four-year targets for their planning areas.
The rule had been rescinded during the first Trump administration, only to be reinstated by the Biden administration. After opposition from Republican leaders, two federal judges later ruled that the department lacked authority to issue the rule, and therefore it was never implemented.
Supporting Duffy’s decision, Jim Tymon, executive director of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), said, “AASHTO appreciates the US Department of Transportation’s action to repeal a performance measure rule that was considered by Congress as part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act negotiations in 2021 and was ultimately excluded from enacted legislation. The state DOTs look forward to working with USDOT on implementing existing national-level performance measures approved by law in 2012 for safety, pavement, bridge, and system performance.”
Other organizations supporting the repeal include the American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA), the American Trucking Association, and the Associated General Contractors of America.
The rescission of the GHG Measurement Rule is the latest in a series of actions designed to deliver on the President’s commitment to rescind policies enacted under the Biden-Harris administration and reaffirm USDOT’s focus on safety, efficiency, economic prosperity, and regulatory reform.
