Judge blocks Trump from withholding EV charger funds awarded to 14 states | Trump administration
An American district judge prevented the Trump administration from retaining the funds previously allocated to 14 states for the electric vehicle charger infrastructure.
The judge based in Seattle, Tana Lin, who was appointed to the bench by Joe Biden in 2021, granted a partial injunction to the states which put an action against the Ministry of Transport of Trump.
She judged that the trial of states – led by attorney general in California, Colorado and Washington – would probably succeed. Her decision was not applied to the District of Columbia, Minnesota and Vermont, who, according to her, did not testify that they would suffer immediate damage. The injunction will come into force on July 1, unless the Trump administration files an appeal that blocks it.
In February, the Trump administration ordered the States not to spend $ 5 billion in funds allocated under the Biden administration as part of the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Program (NEVI).
The program provided up to 80% of eligible project costs to deploy electric vehicle costs. Currently, 16 states have at least one operational EV station, according to EV States Clearinghouse.
“The new Directorate of the Ministry of Transport … has decided to examine the policies underlying the implementation of the Formula Nevi program,” wrote Emily Biondi, associate administrator for the planning, environment and immobilization of the transport service.
“Due to the termination of the advice of the Nevi Formula program, the FHWA also immediately suspends approval of all the deployment plans for electric vehicle electric infrastructure for all exercises.
In May, the government of the government of responsibility found that the Trump administration had violated the law when it retained funding. The administration “must continue to execute the legal requirements of the program,” he said.
The White House challenged these conclusions, which she described as “badly and legally indefensible”, and ordered the transport service to ignore them. The ministry should publish a project of its advice updated on electric vehicles this month.
During a hearing before the Seattle judge earlier this month, Leah Brown, of the Washington Attorney General’s Office, said: “This reference adopted with revised advice and modified priorities is simply insufficient to prevail over the intention of the Congress.” She added that states do not “dispute the ability to revise the advice, but we argue that this is simply not a sufficient explanation for the actions they have taken,” reported the Washington State Standard.
“The agency has no intention of retaining state funds,” said lawyer for the Ministry of Justice Heidy Gonzalez. “He simply wants to have the opportunity to review the previous advice and promulgate advice that involves the current administration policies and priorities.”
During his campaign for the presidency, Donald Trump expressed hatred for electric vehicles that passed against his growing friendship with Tesla CEO, Elon Musk.
At one point in the campaign, Trump said that supporters of vehicles should “rot in hell” and that Biden’s support for electric vehicles would bring a “bloodbath” to the United States automotive industry.
Although he later appointed Musk to serve as a head of the “government department of government”, Musk and Trump have since separated.
