Nebraska is suing major truck manufacturers for working with the California Air Resources Board through the Clean Truck Partnership.
Nebraska’s attorney general, Mike Hilgers, announced an antitrust lawsuit against Daimler Truck North America, International Motors, Paccar, Volvo Group North America, and the Truck & Engine Manufacturers Association.
The OEMs facing Nebraska’s antitrust lawsuit represent a third of the nation’s heavy-duty truck manufacturing market. According to the American Truck Dealers, the OEMs made up 38% of U.S. Class 8 vehicle sales in Q2 2024.
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Two combustion fuel trade associations joined the suit as co-plaintiffs: the ethanol trade association Renewable Fuels Nebraska and liquid fuel trade association Energy Marketers of America.
The three plaintiffs have long been critical of electric vehicle mandates. Earlier this year, Nebraska joined a 17-state lawsuit against CARB’s Advanced Clean Fleets and a 24-state petition protesting EPA’s heavy-duty emissions regulations.
Is the Clean Truck Partnership anti-competitive?
It will be up to the District Court of Lincoln County to decide the lawsuit’s next steps.
Antitrust laws attempt to prohibit trusts, where a corporation or group of businesses pursue unfair ways of restraining trade or crushing competition. The Clean Truck Partnership is an agreement between CARB and major manufacturers, signed in 2023, to meet the state’s zero-emissions standards.
Under the partnership, the signing manufacturers commit to meeting key CARB regulations and promise not to challenge those regulations. CARB’s part of the partnership promises to establish a fixed regulatory lead time and stability. Signing parties outside the lawsuit include Cummins, Ford, General Motors, and more.
Nebraska and its co-plaintiffs argue that the partnership is anti-competitive and violates the state’s laws. The lawsuit claims that the plaintiffs violated both the Nebraska Consumer Protection Act and the Junkin Act.
“Defendants are competitors who dominate the market for Class 8 ICE vehicles both nationwide and in Nebraska,” the antitrust lawsuit argues. “Their illegal horizontal conspiracy, enshrined in the CTP agreement, will injure the market for Class 8 ICE vehicles by reducing output, eliminating choice, and raising prices for these vehicles.”
Most antitrust cases involve interstate commerce, come from the Federal Trade Commission or the DOJ antitrust division, and use the federal court system. State courts usually only handle antitrust cases that don’t involve interstate commerce. However, Hilgers’s lawsuit both involves interstate commerce and was filed only in a state court.
Trucking industry groups oppose partnership
The American Trucking Associations and the Truckload Carriers Association both criticized the Clean Truck Partnership shortly after its announcement in 2023. TCA’s president, Jim Ward, called the agreement an “ill-suited compromise.” ATA’s president and CEO, Chris Spear, suggested the “government bullie[d] the private sector to succumb to unachievable timelines, targets, and technologies.”
Spear continued to criticize the partnership after Nebraska announced its lawsuit. In an open letter to Cummins and the defendants, Spear urged the businesses to abandon their agreement and join the incoming conservative administration “to reopen Greenhouse Gas Phase 3 and revise it.”
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