WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, joined 26 of his Republican colleagues in a letter voicing their strong opposition to the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) proposal to implement a greenhouse gas emissions performance measure on state departments of transportation and metropolitan planning organizations.

Led by Ranking Member Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., the senators emphasized to the FHWA that it lacks authority from Congress for such action.

“Nowhere in the IIJA did Congress provide FHWA with any statutory authority to impose the performance measure or the requirement to set declining targets on state departments of transportation (DOTs) and metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) contained in this proposal,” the senators wrote. “FHWA cannot create of its own choosing the authority that Congress debated, considered, and rejected.”

“FHWA’s attempt to create new authorities where Congress has not provided them would infringe on state DOTs’ necessary flexibility to meet the surface transportation needs of their residents,” the senators continued.

The full text of the letter can be found here.