(AFP) – A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to release billions of dollars allocated for the construction of electric vehicle charging stations in over a dozen US states. In a ruling Tuesday, US District Judge Tana Lin granted a preliminary injunction to require distribution of funds for National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) development, which was allotted $5 billion for use from 2022 to 2026.
Signed into law by then-president Joe Biden in 2021, the NEVI program was defunded by the Trump administration’s Department of Transportation in February, axing expected funding for 16 states and the District of Columbia. President Donald Trump has repeatedly called climate change a “hoax,” abandoned electric vehicle booster programs, and campaigned to drill for oil extensively. Trump has also blocked California’s plan to ban internal combustion engine vehicles by 2035.
Seventeen attorneys general sued the Trump administration to unfreeze funds in May, led by California, the state with the largest number of electric vehicles. “It is no secret that the Trump Administration is beholden to the fossil fuel agenda,” said California Attorney General Rob Bonta, adding legal programs can’t be dismantled “just so that the President’s Big Oil friends can continue basking in record-breaking profits.” The Democrat praised Lin’s order and said California “looks forward to continuing to vigorously defend itself from this executive branch overreach.”
In responding to the ruling, a Department of Transportation spokesperson on Wednesday blasted the Biden-era NEVI program as a “disaster” and said Lin was “another liberal judicial activist making nonsensical rulings from the bench because they hate President Trump.” It was not clear whether the administration intends to appeal the ruling. “While we assess our legal options, the order does not stop our ongoing work to reform the program,” the spokesperson added.
The Trump administration has until July 2 to appeal or release funds under Lin’s order, which applies to Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia.
© 2024 AFP
