Former President Trump’s campaign is again criticizing President Biden’s climate agenda, taking aim at his administration’s electric vehicle (EV) policies.
In a fiery statement to Fox News Digital on Thursday, the Trump campaign blasted Biden’s actions related to California’s proposed EV mandate regulations, which would phase out all gas-powered car sales in the coming years. [emphasis, links added]
The statement comes amid a war of words on EV policy between Trump and both the Biden administration and California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
“Fresh off imposing his insane, job-killing electric vehicle mandate at the federal level, Crooked Joe Biden is preparing to slaughter the remnants of the U.S. auto industry by approving California’s waiver request outlawing the sale of all gasoline-powered automobiles,” Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News Digital in a statement.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is expected to soon finalize a waiver requested by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to green-light a plan that would begin setting statewide EV sales requirements in 2026 and culminate in a complete ban on gas cars in 2035.
The federal waiver has received opposition from automakers, car dealers, Republican and Democratic lawmakers, and the energy industry.
Leavitt said Thursday that, if elected, on his first day in office, Trump would revoke both federal EV requirements and any waiver issued for California by the Biden administration.
“Despite these cataclysmic consequences, Crooked Joe is preparing to formally approve this extremist, ultra-left-wing ban on gasoline cars in much of the United States,” Leavitt said. “The Trump administration will stand for car affordability and maximum choice for American consumers.”
In March 2022, the EPA reinstated California’s authority under the Clean Air Act to broadly implement its own emission standards and EV sales mandates and allowed other states to adopt California’s rules.
“Despite these cataclysmic consequences, Crooked Joe is preparing to formally approve this extremist, ultra-left-wing ban on gasoline cars in much of the United States.”
That action came after the Trump administration revoked the state’s authority to pursue standards that run counter to federal rules.
Months later, on Aug. 25, 2022, CARB announced its Advanced Clean Cars II plan and, shortly thereafter, Newsom said California would continue to “lead the revolution towards our zero-emission transportation future.”
Then, in May 2023, the state submitted a waiver request with the EPA, asking it to approve the plan, which more than a dozen other states have pledged to adopt.
The Advanced Clean Cars II plan would require that 35% of new car sales be zero-emission in 2026 and rapidly increase that requirement until 2035 when 100% of sales would be required to be zero-emissions.
“The U.S. auto industry is undoubtedly transitioning to electric vehicles as evidenced by the massive investments automakers have committed to technology and their ongoing product announcements,” the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, an industry group that represents major automakers, wrote to the EPA last month.
“And while California has long led the way in developing the EV market in that state, other states have not yet caught up. It is therefore important for policymakers to assess whether a ZEV regulation that is right for California is also right for other states.”
According to data compiled by the group, 24% of [California] car sales last year were battery electric while another 4% were hybrid. However, in the last half of 2023, state EV sales saw a precipitous decline for the first time in more than a decade, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Meanwhile, Newsom recently blasted Trump for his comments on EVs, saying California was prepared to defend its climate agenda.
Top photo by Michael Fousert on Unsplash
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California has not the energy to charge such a fleet and at times must import up to 60% of its electricity needs from as far away as Canada and Mexico. Electricity costs are also more than 300% the US average per kWh and soon climbing higher. We have but ten oil refineries and import about 2/3rds our oil from the Middle East, Africa, South America and the plan is to shut those down, too.
The plan this year was also to shut down Diablo Canyon, the state’s last nuclear power plant which produces about 10% of the state’s needs 24/7 and replace it with 130 square miles of solar panels but that’s luckily been put on hold…
Things are totally loonie in this state and there’s no adults left in charge…
Biden and Newsom its hard to detect who is stupider
And what about those drifters sleeping in the sub ground car park at the hotel I’m staying at?