Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) blasted the Biden administration’s new EPA regulations governing electric vehicles and exhaust pollution.
Manchin lambasted the EPA’s extreme regulatory plan in a statement released Tuesday, saying it will promote EV sales beginning in 2030 and accelerating in 2032. Manchin called the EPA’s unrealistic aim of ensuring that 67% of new cars sold are all-electric a “trojan horse” designed to increase America’s dependency on China for crucial minerals. He pleaded with Congress to overturn the rules.
“The EPA is lying to Americans with false claims about how their manipulation of the market to boost EVs will help American energy security,” Manchin said. “In reality, this is a Trojan horse. Meet these timelines will mean strengthening our reliance on minerals and technologies controlled by the Chinese. Taken in concert with the clear violation of the [Inflation Reduction Act] to undermine provisions that would actually secure these supply chains, this Administration is taking steps that will only result in a more energy-secure and powerful China. I don’t believe that making progress on climate change should come at the expense of our national and energy security. I fully support Congress overturning these dangerous EPA regulations.”
It was revealed earlier this month, the administration released a proposed regulatory package aimed at dramatically increasing electric vehicle sales. The rules would aim for EVs to account for two-thirds of all new cars on the market by 2032. The dramatic new regulations would represent a massive increase in EV sales; before, electric vehicles accounted for only 5.8% of all new vehicle sales.
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The administration issued new restrictions for tailpipe emissions last week in order to ease the changeover. The agency’s “more stringent” rules would result in a 56% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions for light-duty cars and a 44% reduction for medium-duty vehicles, while equivalent standards were set for heavy-duty vehicles.
According to the EPA, the new regulations will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 10 billion tons over the next three decades and generate up to $1.6 trillion in value. Skeptics, on the other hand, argue that the move would disregard strong public preference for economical and dependable conventional vehicles.
Meanwhile, Manchin has emerged as a thorn in the administration’s aggressive environmental policymaking. Manchin, who cast the deciding vote that helped enact the $740 billion Inflation Reduction Act, has regularly criticized how the Executive Branch is carrying out the program. He recently slammed a proposed rule that would relax regulations on the electric vehicle tax credit.
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“Yet again – the guidance released by the Department of the Treasury completely ignores the intent of the Inflation Reduction Act,” Manchin said. “It is horrific that the Administration continues to ignore the purpose of the law which is to bring manufacturing back to America and ensure we have reliable and secure supply chains. American tax dollars should not be used to support manufacturing jobs overseas. It is a pathetic excuse to spend more taxpayer dollars as quickly as possible and further cedes control to the Chinese Communist Party in the process.”
“The guidance includes a 60-day comment period and I ask for every American to comment,” he added. “My comment is simple: stop this now – just follow the law.”
It is time that this electric car idea has its plug pulled—for good.
