The Biden administration will likely complete regulations this week designed to punish gas-powered vehicles and pave the way for electric vehicles, whose average cost is roughly more than twice as expensive as average subcompact car.
In its proposed rules published in May 2023, the Environmental Protection Agency wrote that it wanted to target vehicles that would phase-in over model years 2027 through 2032, stating, “EPA finds it appropriate to set new standards for model years after 2026 for both criteria pollutants and GHG at this time, rather than continuing its prior approach of coordinating the standards but setting them in separate regulatory actions.
“It certainly won’t do anything to improve human health. It won’t do anything to reduce pollution,” American Energy Institute president and CEO Jason Isaac, told Fox News Digital. “We’ve proven in this country that we’re already a world leader in clean air. All it’s going to continue to do is push the costs of electric vehicles on to purchasers of internal combustion engine vehicles. This is purely being done for campaign reasons — to really appease the leftist large donor base that are the climate alarmists that are driving this movement towards really what is a forced energy transition, which is just increasing the cost of everything.”
“President Biden has been clear since 2020 that he intends to use his federal agencies, and the State of California, to eliminate sales of new gas cars,” American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers president and CEO Chet Thompson added. “While multiple administration policies push us toward this end, the EPA’s passenger vehicle standards will do most of the damage on their own — requiring approximately 70% of new car sales to be electric in less than eight years. This policy is bad for consumers, the economy and national security. It will sacrifice our hard-won U.S. energy strength for even greater dependence on China and the EV battery and mineral supply chain China controls.”
“In 2022, California finalized the Advanced Clean Cars II rule that will require, by 2035, all new light-duty vehicles sold in the state to be zero-emission vehicles, with New York, Massachusetts, and Washington state following suit, likely to be followed by Oregon and Vermont as well,” the EPA wrote. “Several other states may adopt similar provisions as members of the International Zero-Emission Vehicle Alliance.”
“For light-duty vehicles, EPA is proposing standards that would increase in stringency each year over a six-year period, from MYs 2027–2032,” the EPA stated. “The proposed standards are projected to result in an industry-wide average target for the light-duty fleet of 82 grams/mile (g/mile) of CO2 in MY 2032, representing a 56 percent reduction in projected fleet average GHG emissions target levels from the existing MY 2026 standards.”
“EPA is proposing more stringent emissions standards for criteria pollutants for both light-duty and medium-duty vehicles for MYs 2027– 2032,” the agency wrote, adding:
For light-duty vehicles, EPA is proposing non-methane organic gases (NMOG) plus nitrogen oxides (NOX) standards that would phase-down to a fleet average level of 12 mg/mi by MY 2032, representing a 60 percent reduction from the existing 30 mg/mi standards for MY 2025 established in the Tier 3 rule in 2014. For medium- duty vehicles, EPA is proposing NMOG+NOX standards that would require a fleet average level of 60 mg/ mi by MY 2032, representing a 66 percent to 76 percent reduction from the Tier 3 standards of 178 mg/mi for Class 2b vehicles and 247 mg/mi for Class 3 vehicles. EPA is proposing cold temperature (¥7 °C) NMOG+NOX standards for light- and medium-duty vehicles to ensure robust emissions control over a broad range of operating conditions. For both light-duty and all medium- duty vehicles, EPA is proposing a particulate matter (PM) standard of 0.5 mg/mi and a requirement that the standard be met across three test cycles, including a cold temperature (¥7 °C) test.