WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A U.S. judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s administration from withholding funds awarded to 14 states for electric vehicle charger infrastructure.
U.S. District Judge Tana Lin in Seattle, Washington, ruled that the states were likely to succeed in a lawsuit alleging that the federal government was illegally withholding billions of dollars awarded to states for building EV charging stations.
The U.S. Transportation Department in February suspended the EV charging program and rescinded approval of state plans pending a review.
Lin’s ruling did not apply to District of Columbia, Minnesota and Vermont, which also sued over the funding rescission but did not provide evidence that they would suffer immediate harm as a result of the Transportation Department decision.
Lin’s ruling will take effect in seven days, which will give the Trump administration time to file an appeal and ask an appellate court to block her ruling from taking effect.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Sandra Maler and Jamie Freed)
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