Trump may have to pay for EV charging after all

Politico

a day ago

One White House attack on clean energy is generating serious legal pushback: a freeze on billions of federal dollars meant to create a network of electric vehicle charging stations.
First, in June, a judge ordered the Department of Transportation to resume funding the program for 14 states that had sued to get the money unfrozen. Last month, the judge admitted a herd of new plaintiffs, making it more likely that the program will resume nationwide.
At issue is the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program, a $5 billion item in the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law. The Biden administration intended it to build a safety net of high-powered charging stations along the nation's highways. It's gone sluggishly: Only 100 of the thousands of needed stations are now operating.
NEVI has been a target of President Donald Trump since well before he resumed office. He campaigned on it as a monumental waste of money, and tagged it for elimination in his Inauguration Day 'Unleashing American Energy' executive order. A few weeks later, DOT froze NEVI spending, promising to restart it after issuing new guidance. (The suspension of congressionally approved funding was illegal, the Government Accountability Office said in May.)
But Team Trump hasn't done so well in court.
In late June, Judge Tana Lin, ruling from a federal district court in Seattle, undid Trump's freeze for the 14 states, all run by Democratic governors and most with long-held support for EVs.
The Trump administration, Lin said, 'pulled the rug out from under them, leaving them with partially completed, partially funded infrastructure projects.'
Nonprofits and states pile onThen the number of parties in the suit vastly expanded. Two weeks ago, Lin permitted a clutch of six nonprofits that advocate for EVs to join the suit as 'intervenors.'
The outside groups are either national, such as the Sierra Club or Plug In America, or regional, like the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy. Taken together, a favorable final ruling could restart funding even in states that took no action against Trump — unless, of course, the president wins yet another reprieve from the Supreme Court, which has handed him quite a few victories lately while rebuking decisions by district judges.
'My clients have members in every state, or members who would like to drive in every state,' said Megan Kimball, a lawyer for the Southern Environmental Law Center, which is representing four of the nonprofits.
Four new states joined the lawsuit last week: Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Kentucky. All are run by Democrats but are politically purple, with tepid past support for EVs.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear cast his state's involvement as a bid to support the $11 billion in EV-related battery manufacturing the state has garnered. NEVI, his office said in an email, will 'build out the infrastructure that will power the batteries that Kentuckians are making.'
A final ruling could come as soon as October. DOT and its Federal Highway Administration, which administers NEVI, did not reply to repeated requests for comment.
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Today in POLITICO Energy's podcast: Alex Nieves breaks down California Gov. Gavin Newsom's pivot on oil and what it means for his climate agenda.
Power Centers
Gas deals: everywhere, all the timeTrump's grand plans for American natural gas for everything from exports to fuel for powering data centers could jeopardize some of his priorities, Mike Soraghan and Carlos Anchondo write.
While the U.S. has plentiful gas reserves, it doesn't have the infrastructure needed to move as much gas as Trump is touting. And his tariffs could raise the price of steel and other materials needed to build pipelines and export terminals. All of this could affect energy prices, which Trump pledged to cut in half.
Trump's moves on gas are ultimately at the mercy of markets.
'It helps to kind of shape things at the margin, but the market ultimately drives what happens,' said Kenneth Medlock, a Rice University energy economist.
The legal conundrumThe Environmental Protection Agency's push to roll back its 2009 scientific finding that underpins climate regulation could expose a number of industries to lawsuits, Jean Chemnick writes.
Greenhouse gas emissions are regulated under the Clean Air Act today, and that protects industrial polluters from litigation. But a successful effort by Trump's EPA to eliminate the finding that heat-trapping emissions harm public health could create new legal risks for industry.
It could compel Democratic-led states to regulate carbon-heavy industries. And California might argue that EPA's decision to no longer limit climate pollution under the Clean Air Act could again open the door for Sacramento to impose tougher auto emissions standards — reversing a recent win for congressional Republicans looking to strip California of that right.
Spending restrictions at BLMThe White House Office of Management and Budget is directing the Bureau of Land Management to cut spending tied to renewable energy and land acquisitions.
From documents viewed by POLITICO's E&E News, it's not clear how long the spending restrictions will remain in place. Spending prohibitions on land acquisitions extend to the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which uses offshore oil and gas revenue to acquire land and water within or near federal lands, Scott Streater reports.
In Other News
Won't back down: India says it will continue to buy Russian oil after Trump said he would increase a 25 percent tariff on Indian goods because of the purchases.
Jackpot: BP officials touted what they called the company's biggest oil discovery in 25 years off the coast of Brazil.
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Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley (D) rebuked the U.S. Export-Import Bank for approving a loan for a $4.7 billion liquefied natural gas export project in Mozambique without notifying Congress.
The Interior Department has signed off on the expansion of a Montana coal mine to feed high-emission power plants.
That's it for today, folks! Thanks for reading.