The new rule finalized this week ramps up to nearly reach the level the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) preferred by 2032. It slows implementation of stricter pollution standards from 2027 through 2029.
Concerned that the Biden administration wants more Americans driving electric vehicles (EVs), the auto industry had called the initially proposed benchmarks unworkable. Sales of those models have been up, but they are nowhere near the level needed for a rule of this magnitude to work.
Meanwhile, former President Trump has criticized the rule, and Republicans in the House and Senate are not happy. The same could be said for watchdogs like Patrick Hedger of the Taxpayers Protection Alliance.
He says Biden is effectively trying to phase out and ban gas-powered internal combustion engines.
"Basically, they have tightened the standards for new cars sold in this country to such an extent that by the mid-2030s and certainly into the 2040s, it will be effectively illegal to sell most cars that have an internal combustion engine as we know them today," he warns.
He expects the Left will continue to target consumer choices.
"We are seeing the Biden administration across industries, including appliances, automobiles, and other household items really, a broad tightening of standards to try and reduce emissions," Hedger observes. "Certainly we want to control pollution, we want to combat pollution, but we are not doing this in a way that reflects market realities, especially when it comes to automobiles and transportation."
He says we are talking about putting an immense amount of energy onto the electric grid through electric cars at a time when the grid is itself going through a major transition from fossil fuels to renewables.
Another concern involves climate hypocrisy; Biden administration officials travel in gas-powered SUVs and have been known to take private jets, and Hedger says Americans get really bent out of shape about that.
