According to a lobbying group for the oil and gas sector, proposed Environmental Protection Agency restrictions amount to a “de facto ban” on gasoline-powered automobiles.
According to The Washington Times, the EPA’s proposed emissions rule would mandate that automakers’ new car fleets be 67 percent electric by 2032 and 60 percent electric by 2030.
“This proposal seriously misses the mark,” said Mike Sommers, president and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute.
“While not an explicit ban on internal combustion engines, this proposal is a de facto ban that will eliminate competition, distort the market and restrict consumer choice, while being potentially more costly to taxpayers.”
Alliance for Automotive Innovation, the leading trade association for the automotive sector, also spoke out against the regulation.
“These levels are substantially higher than what the auto industry indicated was achievable,” it said in comments submitted to the EPA, adding that “these proposed rules effectively require an additional 10-fold sales increase in a mere eight years.”
Even while consumers desire electric vehicles, the group pointed out that the necessary conditions do not exist for a surplus of EVs to be available.
“[Customers] will consider affordability and access to home and public charging infrastructure, requiring stepped-up efforts at the state and local level when it comes to building codes, permitting and approval from public utility commissions.
“Recent analysis indicates all of these are in much shorter supply than needed to meet EPA’s ambitious proposal by 2032,” the group wrote.
“And, despite government investments, there is no clear pathway to meet the totality of those needs in the timeframe considered in the proposed rulemaking without significant impacts to automakers, workers, consumers and ultimately the availability of vehicles that meet the needs of individuals, families and businesses across the country.”
The proposed rule, according to the South Dakota Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources, is an instance of federal overreach.
“EPA’s fact sheet states the proposed standards would contribute ‘toward the goal of holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 degrees Celsius ….’ The U.S. Supreme Court has consistently told EPA it may not expand its federal regulatory reach beyond what Congress has given it authority to implement,” the department wrote.
“The U.S. Congress has not established this 2 degrees Celsius goal under the requirements of [the] Clean Air Act, and this goal is not found in a promulgated regulation.”
“It is evident that EPA lacks clear authority from Congress to require a generation-shifting approach to reduce vehicle emissions. Therefore, DANR does not think EPA has clear authority to implement these proposed emission standards and views this effort as federal overreach,” it wrote.
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