President Joe Biden’s administration could finalize new regulations this week that are intended to reduce gas-powered vehicle tailpipe emissions as it pressures American consumers to transition from traditional gas-powered vehicles to electric vehicles.
Transportation industry sources told Fox News that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is expected to issue the final rules for the new regulations as soon as Wednesday. While EPA officials have claimed that the new regulations will help to incentivize Americans to transition to electric vehicles, opponents of the new regulations have argued that the new guidelines will “feel like a ban.”
The regulations, which were first announced by the EPA in April of 2023, would implement new requirements on “light-duty and medium-duty vehicles” starting in 2027. Fox News reported that the Biden administration has projected that the new regulations will lead to 67% of new sedan, SUV, crossover, and light truck vehicles being electric by 2032. Additionally, the administration has predicted that up to 25% of long-haul freight tractors, 35% of short-haul freight tractors, and 50% of buses and garbage trucks could be electric by 2032.
“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,” Chet Thompson, CEO of American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, told Fox News. “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.”
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Thompson warned that the Biden administration’s new policies are not only “bad for consumers” but will also “sacrifice our hard-won U.S. energy strength for even greater dependence on China” by making the United States dependent on electric vehicle batteries. Thompson also warned that the new regulations will “feel like a ban” for U.S. consumers and will significantly impact the ability of Americans to afford new vehicle purchases.
Fox News reported that the new regulations, which are central to Biden’s climate agenda, would require car manufacturers to quickly expand the electric vehicle market over the next several years. The White House has claimed that the new regulations would reduce American oil imports by approximately 20 billion barrels and would “accelerate the clean vehicle transition.”
However, Jason Isaac, American Energy Institute president and CEO, told Fox News that the new regulations will not “do anything to improve human health” or to “reduce pollution.”
“We’ve proven in this country that we’re already a world leader in clean air,” Isaac said. “All it’s going to continue to do is push the costs of electric vehicles on to purchasers of internal combustion engine vehicles.”
