17 national and cycle alliances led by California, Washington and Colorado are suing the Trump administration for maintaining $5 billion in EV charging funds that Congress passed in 2021, but were shelved by the current administration. [emphasis, links added]
Most alliances, including litigation leaders California and Washington, failed to use $3.3 billion in grant funds to build any chargers.
The federal highway government suspended approval of the state EV charger network program filed under the Isventure Investment and Obs Act, which was signed into law in 2021, after President Donald Trump lifted the order to authorize electric vehicles.
It provides $5 billion in national electric vehicle infrastructure grants.
“Reimbursement of existing obligations will be allowed before new guidance is issued to avoid undermining current financial commitments,” the FHWA notice said.
According to the NEVI dashboard maintained by the National Association of Energy Officials, a $3.3 billion bonus has been awarded.
This means the suspension mainly affects $1.7 billion in unallocated funds that would otherwise have been phased out in fiscal 2026, but the IIJA requires “stay available until expenditure”.
Forty-four states and territories including the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have issued at least one Nevi funding tender.
Of the 44 solicitation states and territories, 38 have received funds, with only 16 of them operating at least one Nevi station, although there are four years of funding between fiscal 2021 and fiscal 2025.
The lawsuits generally requested by 17 lawyers require the court to block the withholding of Nevi grants, citing the congressional mandate explicitly in the IIJA.
In its plan suspension notice, FHWA said the NEVI program was “unique because the program requires the secretary to approve each country’s plan to describe how the country intends to use its NEVI funding and simply “decides to review the policies to implement the Nevi Formula Program”.
Watch: CBS's Margaret Brennan smiled in Pete Buttigieg's face, and while he couldn't explain why only $7.5 billion of senior executives spent $7.5 billion to build chargers, he built only seven or eight electric car charging stations. pic.twitter.com/bmfk17dk5o
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) May 26, 2024
This shows that while IIJA may require FHWA to pay $5 billion in Nevi grants, it is true IIJA grants FHWA the authority to temporarily suspend the NEVI program for review.
“Unless the state fails to submit its state's EV infrastructure deployment plan in a timely manner, the secretary must allocate its share of funds in the Nevi Formula Program to each state,” the lawsuit said. [State P]local area network. ”
Although it has received $302 million in funding since the fiscal year 2021, California has not completed a NEVI-funded charger.
Washington received a $56 million reward, but has not completed Nevi Chargers. Of the 17 states and territories that filed the lawsuit, only 8 completed any Nevi charger.
The lawsuit states that if the IIJA determines that the country has not implemented its plans, it has developed clear guidance for the FHWA, including determining actions to correct concerns, and providing at least 90 days of issues to resolve them, and providing 60 days of notice to withhold or withdraw funds.
If the court believes that the IIJA's clear procedure exceeds the powers available to the FHWA, the FHWA may have to restore the revoked national plan and at some point the grant of Nevi funds.
Top photo of Oxana Melis on Unsplash
Reading and resting in the central square
