California plans to phase out the sale of all gas-powered personal cars by the year 2035. However, a bipartisan bill in the House of Representatives indicates that there’s not very much support nationally for that dumb idea. Multiple Democrats crossed the aisle to vote in favor of HR 1435 last week, the “Preserving Choice in Vehicle Purchases Act.”
HR 1435 would ban states from telling citizens what vehicles they’re allowed to buy. It would also rescind federal approvals that were issued since last year that would allow states to ban gas-powered vehicles. The bill doesn’t name California specifically, but it was the first state to try to phase out cars that normal people can afford.
When the Clean Air Act was passed by Congress in the 1960s, it allowed California to pass its own clean car rules that were stricter than federal rules, so long as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved the rules first. California was given this carveout in the law because LA County was the smoggiest place in America, thanks to emissions from 1960s vehicles.
Los Angeles hasn’t had any smog in it for more than 40 years now, thanks to vehicle emissions standards. The only air pollution that the city suffers today is from all the piles of “hobo surprise” on the sidewalks. But since that portion of the Clean Air Act has never been rescinded, it has allowed the environmentalist wackos and weather cultists in California’s state government to run wild with vehicle regulations.
Last year, Biden’s EPA reinstated a waiver that allows California to impose new rules limiting vehicular air pollution. Immediately after that, the California Air Resources Board (because they need a bureaucracy for the air in California) passed a rule to ban the sale of gas-powered cars by 2035.
Not even California’s federal lawmakers are sold on the stupidity of this idea. Rep. Jim Costa (D-CA) was one of the Democrats who crossed the aisle to vote for HR 1435. The idea that some bureaucratic state board can interfere in the entire nation’s auto industry to this extent is simply absurd. The bill passed by a bipartisan majority of 222 to 190.
It seems that this pie-in-the-sky initiative is starting to crumble from every direction. Joe Biden would love to impose federal mandates requiring that everyone buy electric cars. He says so every chance that he gets.
The problem with that idea is that China controls more than 80% of the supply chain required to build electric cars. It is obviously starting to dawn on American auto workers that most of their jobs would be shipped overseas if this becomes a federal mandate. Workers from the Big Three auto companies walked off the job over the weekend, sending a message to Ford, GM, and Stellantis. The car companies have no reason to keep the jobs here in America if the cost of making an EV goes up to $180,000 or more due to having to import all the materials from China.
The White House is threatening to veto HR 1435 if it makes it to Joe Biden’s desk. They claim that the bill would “restrict the ability of California and its citizens to address its severe air pollution challenges.”
Once again – there are no severe air pollution challenges in California. At least not ones that would be solved by forcing everyone to buy electric cars that they don’t want. Vehicular pollution is no longer a problem in California. If they really wanted to clean the air up, they should start by making public urination and defecation illegal again.
