Biden EPA May Grant California Waiver to Ban Gas-Powered Car Sales by 2035
I’ll just hang on to my gas-powered vehicle, thank you very much. Electric vehicles are simply not ready for primetime and this waiver just provides Californians with one more reason to flee the state.
Two anonymous sources who were “briefed on the matter,” told The Washington Post that President Joe Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency is expected to issue a waiver to California and 11 additional states that will allow them to ban the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035. The waiver, part of the administration’s efforts to “Trump-proof” its “progress” on climate change, could be granted as soon as this week.
The New York Times reported that under the Clean Air Act of 1970, the EPA has allowed California “to enact tougher clean air standards than those set by the federal government. Federal law also allows other states under certain circumstances to adopt California’s standards as their own.”
Given that California has the world’s fifth largest economy and that 11 more states would likely follow its lead, the Post notes that the new standards would impact roughly “40% of the U.S. car market.”
The Post reported:
The California Air Resources Board, the top air pollution regulator in the state, approved a rule in 2022 that would phase out sales of new gasoline-powered cars and SUVs, culminating in a ban by 2035. The EPA in March finalized its own rule that would require automakers to more gradually ramp up EV sales while slashing emissions from gas-powered models.
California has requested a total of eight waivers to enforce climate regulations — not only for cars but also for heavy-duty trucks, trains and commercial harbor craft. It is unclear whether the EPA plans to issue other waivers in addition to the one for cars, the two people said.
Although President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to reverse the Biden administration’s overzealous climate policies, the Post claims this waiver may prove difficult – but not impossible – to reverse.
The problem may ultimately come down to semantics. Liberals point out that a waiver is not a regulation.
Congressional Republicans could also take aim at the waiver using the Congressional Review Act, which allows lawmakers to nullify any regulation within 60 days of enactment with a simple majority vote. However, many legal experts and environmentalists have argued that the waiver is not subject to the CRA because it is not a regulation.
Dan Becker, director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s Safe Climate Transport Campaign, told the Post, “There’s no provision in the Clean Air Act that says you can revoke a waiver. There are lots of provisions that say you may not grant a waiver if you choose not to. So see you in court, Mr. Trump.”
The issue will likely require the intervention of the Supreme Court, which agreed on Friday to “review a lower court’s decision that fossil fuel industry groups lacked the legal right to challenge the waiver. Oral arguments in the case could occur as soon as March.”
On the campaign trail, Trump pledged to end Biden’s $7,500 tax credit for buyers of electric vehicles, which he and many others see as a bribe to taxpayers. He believes it has hurt the domestic auto industry. Such an initiative would have to go through Congress.
During his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Trump promised to “end the electric vehicle mandate on day one” which he said would “sav[e] the U.S. auto industry from complete obliteration.”
The bottom line is that Democrats are trying to force people into buying electric vehicles at a time when it simply doesn’t make sense for most Americans. In addition to their high price tag, the inconvenience of keeping electric cars charged on long car trips, and their unreliability in cold weather, they require electricity to run. Lots and lots of electricity, in fact.
And where does that electricity come from? Well, a lot of it comes from fossil fuels. Doesn’t that kind of defeat the purpose?
All in all, I think I’ll just hang on to my gas-powered vehicle, thank you very much. Electric vehicles are simply not ready for primetime and this waiver just provides Californians with one more reason to flee the state.
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Comments
Trump will end this farce
Let them do it, give them the government they continually vote for. The federal government shouldn’t be preventing this any more than it should be mandating it.
Let the rest of the states sit back and watch. Let’s see what happens.
But under NO circumstance should any of the rest of us have to pay for the insanity of California politicians and their idiot voters.
They don’t learn, they flee the consequences of their decisions. They are so numerous they ruin other states like the locusts they are.
If California wants this, let them do it. (That’s the idea of Federalism and states’ rights). Just don’t expect the rest of us to pay for their madness.
Congress needs to immediately strip the Executive’s authority (and any authority he’s already delegated to EPA) and reclaim it’s constitutional ownership of law-making authority.
New rule – when state and federal standards conflict – the Least Restrictuve standard applies.
phase out sales of new gasoline-powered cars and SUVs, culminating in a ban by 2035
There is somebody in Nevada and Arizona just waiting to sell cars to Californians
…. and.a California DMV just waiting to refuse to license the vehicle.
Burn down the house.
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