BISMARCK – This year, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a costly and burdensome proposed rule which would require 67% of new light-duty vehicles and 46% of medium-duty vehicles to be electric by 2032. Implementation of this proposal would effectively establish a de facto mandate for electric vehicles (EV), calling for the complete phase out of internal combustion engine vehicles and harm American consumers by dictating what automobiles they can buy.
U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) joined U.S. Representative Randy Feenstra (R-IA-04), U.S. Senator Mike Crapo (R-ID), and more than 130 of their colleagues in sending a bicameral, bipartisan letter to President Joe Biden and Director of the Office of Management and Budget Shalanda Young, calling for the rejection of EPA’s proposed rule. The U.S. House of Representatives voted to overturn this onerous rule and the Senate is currently pursuing similar efforts.
The letter highlights the proposed rule relies on faulty assumptions which directly contradicts comprehensive market analysis about the future of the automobile industry. A report published in 2021 by the U.S. Energy Information Administration projected four out of five new vehicles will run on liquid fuels until 2050, further demonstrating if still allowed the choice, Americans will continue to purchase vehicles outfitted with the internal combustion engine. The lawmakers state the EPA’s proposed rule unnecessarily restricts consumer choice and forces expensive EVs onto Americans at a time when they can least afford it.
Further, the letter illustrates major automakers in the United States have lowered their targets and pulled back planned investments in EVs due to low consumer demand and struggling EV units. Despite the federal government incentivizing the switch to EVs, they continue to collect dust on automobile dealership lots across the country.
“Your Administration continues to degrade liquid fuels and combustion engines in order to implement its costly Green New Deal agenda that harms our families and businesses, increases our gas prices, and makes us more dependent on foreign supply chains—particularly China,” the lawmakers wrote.
“Therefore, we strongly urge you to halt and reject the implementation of the EPA’s proposed tailpipe rule,” the lawmakers continued. “These last few weeks, with EVs leaving people stranded, have underscored the reason why an EV-only approach is wrong. The EPA’s proposed rule is burdensome and inconsistent with the reality of the industry and needs to be rejected for the good of American families and businesses.”
Click here to read letter.