Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall on Thursday released a statement denouncing the Biden Administration’s plan mandating the phasing out of gas-powered vehicles. This move, Marshall argues, would compel the restructuring of the entire automobile industry around the production of electric vehicles (EVs).
The proposal by the Biden Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency would boost certain EV sales from 8.4% of total vehicle sales to 67% by 2032.
Attorney General Marshall signed onto the 25-state coalition letter opposing the EPA plan, arguing the move would damage our economy, undermine the reliability of our electrical grids, threaten our national security, and drastically increase costs for families and businesses.
“Yet again, President [Joe]Biden has prioritized his radical and illogical environmental agenda over the economic realities facing working-class Americans, and this time he’s targeting affordable gas-powered vehicles,” said Attorney General Marshall. “Consumers are already experiencing record high energy prices and painful inflation, and this proposal will only prolong and exacerbate the inflationary pressures that are plaguing our economy. I will always stand guard against Biden’s radical agenda, and I will never stop fighting for consumers and businesses in our state.”
“President Biden wants to use the power of government to force a massive shift in demand for automobiles, with the government putting its thumb on the scale in favor of EVs. But Americans don’t want what he is selling,” said Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron. “This is the latest head-in-the-sand approach to achieving the left’s impossible green-energy fantasies. Government shouldn’t pick winners and losers, and an EPA rule that would kill gas-powered vehicles does just that.”
The coalition’s letter argues that the aggressive shift to EVs is counterproductive, misguided, and unrealistic. The nation’s power grids not only lack the capacity to accommodate the demands of the new proposed rule, but the grid is also lacking the stability to compensate for these new stringent demands. The EPA’s plan undercuts American energy independence. Additionally, this fast-and-furious approach to electrification will have devastating consequences for our automotive supply chain by making us overly dependent on foreign adversaries, like China, for the raw minerals required for electric vehicle production.
According to the Republicans Attorney Generals, at the end of 2022, the average electric vehicle sold for $61,448. Consequently, the coalition argues that it is not the right time to complicate the automobile manufacturing process, which will increase the average price per vehicle. Consumers are already experiencing record inflation, historic gasoline prices, and high utility bills.
Attorney General Marshall signed on to the letter with attorneys general in Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
President Biden meanwhile defended his climate policies.
“We passed the infrastructure law with 500,000 EV chargers,” said Biden. “And they’re going to — 500,000. They can — and guess what? It’s going to create a — we’re capping 100,000 wells in the United Sta- — 100,000. Remember all the heat about what was going on in West Virginia and — and south — west — Western Pennsylvania? Well, these same guys who dug those wells — guess what? — they’re getting paid to cap them. And it’s working. And we’re rebuilding. And we’re putting a new environmental plant where that old steel plant used to be in — in Wharton, West Virginia. Fuel economy rules. We cut emissions in half by 30 — by 2032.”
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