Attorney General Dan Rayfield is filing a lawsuit to stop the Trump administration from illegally terminating billions in congressionally approved funding for electric vehicle infrastructure. Unless the courts check the president’s overreach, Oregon stands to lose $26,190,446 of dollars in electric vehicle infrastructure funding.
“Oregon’s own analysis shows we need five times more public EV chargers along our highways by 2030 just to keep up with the number of electric cars hitting the roads,” Rayfield said. “If federal funding is delayed or cut off, it puts us at serious risk of falling behind on our climate goals and leaves drivers without the charging infrastructure they need.”
In 2022, Congress passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, or IIJA, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. One provision of the IIJA appropriated $5 billion for the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program, or NEVI, to facilitate electric vehicle charging infrastructure in the states.
On January 20, President Trump signed an executive order that mandated all federal agencies to pause disbursement of funds related to the IIJA and the Inflation Reduction Act, including NEVI funding. Despite being tasked by Congress to fund NEVI, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) notified states in early February that the agency was revoking all previously approved plans to implement NEVI, a requirement for funding under IIJA.
The lawsuit filed today by Attorney General Rayfield and the coalition seeks a court order against FHWA’s unlawful actions, and a restoration of the electric vehicle infrastructure funding for the states.
Attorney General Rayfield is joined in filing the lawsuit by the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawai’i, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New Mexico, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Washington, Wisconsin, and Vermont.
