U.S. Sens. Katie Britt (R-Montgomery) and Tommy Tuberville (R-Auburn) called for the withdrawal of the Biden administration’s proposed Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for passenger cars and light-duty trucks.
The proposed standards would require automakers to more than double the average fleet-wide fuel economy in less than 10 years and would effectively mandate the mass production of electric vehicles and a phase-out of gas-powered cars and trucks.
Britt, Tuberville and other Republican lawmakers said in a letter to the National Highway Safety Traffic Administration on Tuesday that electric vehicles aren’t a practical option for most Americans.
“We write to express our deep concern with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s proposed Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for passenger cars and light trucks, which represent yet another attempt by this Administration to use the rulemaking process to impose its climate agenda on American families,” the lawmakers wrote. “NHTSA’s proposed standards, when coupled with the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) distinct, extreme tailpipe emissions proposal, amount to a de facto mandate for electric vehicles (EVs) that threatens to raise costs and restrict consumer choice, harm U.S. businesses, degrade our energy and national security and hand the keys of our automotive industry over to our adversaries, especially China.”
Britt, Tuberville, and other Republican lawmakers continued, “The proposal issued in July is mere virtue signaling for this Administration’s extreme climate agenda, but it would actually have only limited impact on emissions while strengthening foreign adversaries and harming American workers and consumers,” the lawmakers concluded. “We strongly urge NHTSA to drop its attempt at central planning and instead put forth a workable proposal that complies with the law and better serves the American people.”
Owners of 55 car dealerships in Alabama recently signed onto a letter asking Biden to “slow down your proposed regulations mandating battery electric vehicle (BEV) production and distribution.”
Alabama announced multiple grants in 2023 for electric vehicle charging stations across the state in 2023.
A spokesman for the Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) said at a state legislative transportation committee meeting on Wednesday, “Anecdotally, I can tell you it’s a slower adoption rate for electric vehicles in Alabama than many other states,”
“ADECA has developed a strategic plan for how to roll this out and for how to announce and promote the application process to install more charging stations and to develop a network and a system of those,” Tony Harris, ALDOT spokesman, told legislators at the meeting.
Harris said most of the interest in EV charging stations is along interstate corridors, urban areas and areas in between.
State Sen. Randy Price (R-Opelika) said at the meeting, “There’s no sense in if the trend here in Alabama is not following the national trend, so they say then maybe we need to reevaluate that and to look at where we are simply because I just don’t see, especially in my district, a lot of people switching to electric vehicles.”
“We’re allocating thousands of dollars across the state for charging stations, and I know in more of our cities maybe that is a need, so I think we need to stay in front of the ball instead of wasting money and then having to catch up later,” Price said.
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email caleb.taylor@1819News.com.
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