Oregon’s attorney general is joining a lawsuit against the heads of the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration, who are withholding hundreds of millions in funding for electric vehicle chargers already approved by Congress and promised to states.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Seattle, is led by attorneys general in Washington, California and Colorado, along with 13 other Democratic attorneys general. Named as defendants are the U.S. Department of Transportation and its secretary, Sean Duffy, as well as the Federal Highway Administration and its acting administrator, Gloria Shepherd.
The attorneys general argue only Congress, not federal agency leaders or the president, can rescind remaining grant funding that lawmakers approved in 2022 for the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program. Oregon in 2021 was awarded $52 million to spend on expanding EV chargers and charging infrastructure around the state over five years.
“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,” Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield said in a news release. “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.”
Congress in 2022 approved $5 billion in funding for the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The grants were meant to help states build charging networks along highways and interstates, and the Federal Highway Administration had already approved states’ plans.
A Jan. 20 executive order signed by President Donald Trump ordered federal agencies to stop dispersing all funds formerly approved under that act. The Federal Highway Administration in February told states that the agency would rescind previous approvals for state plans meant to expand their EV charging networks, leaving them ineligible for remaining funds.
Oregon’s Department of Transportation planned to use the money to build out 11 “alternative fuel corridors” on highways around the state that would have dozens of fast charging stations with more than 150 fast charging and Level 2 chargers among them. A DC fast-charger can get an electric car 80% charged within about 20 minutes. A Level 2 charger can get an electric vehicle 80% charged in 4 to 10 hours and a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle 80% charged in about 1 to 2 hours, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Statewide, Oregon needs 8,000 to 13,000 public, DC fast-chargers and 12,000 to 50,000 Level 2 chargers by 2030 to meet demand from the growing number of electric vehicles used in the state, according to the state transportation department.
Currently, there are about 3,800 public EV chargers located at more than 1,400 stations throughout Oregon, according to the federal Joint Office of Energy and Transportation.
Oregon’s transportation department has already planned for $26 million in grant spending on engineering, construction and EV charger installations along 11 alternative fuel corridors, primarily on U.S. Highway 97 and Interstate 205, as well as Interstate 5 south of Eugene. But since February, the agency has been cut off from $15 million more it was supposed to receive this year under the grant. The uncertainty around being fully funded to finish projects leaves the agency’s plans hanging in the balance.
“Without those funds, ODOT cannot develop eight of the eleven corridors, representing a loss of at least 40 fast charging stations, or a minimum of 160 charging ports. This accounts for roughly seventy-five percent (75%) of the estimated number of stations ODOT planned to develop,” the attorneys general included in the lawsuit.