The U.S. Dept. of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration released a final rule April 18 rescinding requirements that states track tailpipe emissions of greenhouse gases and set goals to reduce those emissions.

The Biden administration finalized its greenhouse gas emissions rule in 2023 to track and reduce carbon dioxide emissions from the nation’s highway system network.  But the rule faced criticism for adding requirements on states that lawmakers had not included in 2021’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and faced a legal challenge from some states that prevented it from taking effect. Its revocation comes as part of a larger deregulatory effort within DOT and the Trump administration. Officials also repealed a similar rule during President Donald Trump’s first term. 

The 2023 rule required state transportation departments and metropolitan planning organizations with National Highway System mileage within their boundaries to establish declining carbon dioxide targets for on-road mobile sources and to measure and report on progress. Rather than mandating targets, the rule gave states flexibility to set targets, as long as the targets aimed to reduce emissions over time.

“I slashed this ridiculous climate requirement to ensure no radical political agenda gets in the way of revitalizing America’s highways,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement. 

The rescinding rule was published in the Federal Register April 18 and it takes effect May 19. The FHWA said that it was not required to go through the customary notice and public comment period because the agency lacked the legal authority to issue the GHG measure in the first place. However, states are not precluded from developing their own emissions reductions targets and plans, Duffy said. 

The decision to revoke the 2023 rule drew praise from industry groups. Dave Bauer, president and CEO of the American Road & Transportation Builders Association, called the 2023 rule an “ideologically driven mandate that would have placed new burdens on mobility solutions.”

“Repealing the GHG rule removes a regulatory burden that would have increased project costs and imposed Washington, D.C., priorities on state transportation decisions,” he said.

The performance measure could have caused states to put road and bridge projects on hold to instead fund other efforts not directly related to transportation, said Alex Etchen, vice president of government relations at the Associated General Contractors of America, in a statement. 

Some environmental advocates were critical of the move. In a statement, the Sierra Club said states have a key role to play in reducing transportation-related emissions by investing in other forms of public transit and bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure. 

“The Trump administration just threw accountability and transparency into the trash by gutting this common-sense tracking tool for state transportation projects,” said Jesse Piedfort, deputy director of Sierra Club’s “Clean Transportation for All Campaign,” in a statement. 

The rule had allowed states to set their own tail-pipe emissions reduction level targets. Jim Tymon, executive director of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, said in a statement that state DOTs are looking forward to instead implementing existing national performance measures for safety, pavement, bridge and system performance. 

“AASHTO appreciates the U.S. Dept. 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.” Tymon said.