Biden’s ill-conceived EV mandate will harm drivers, cause blackouts

As a conservationist and outdoorsman, I support policies that protect the air, water and land that Americans breathe, drink and live our lives on. I support Congress protecting the environment.

I also believe that any such actions must be economically feasible, have rational transition periods and not cause a massive drag on American businesses, consumers and our competitiveness on the world stage.

This can all be accomplished with smart and realistic planning. Unfortunately, the Biden Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) recent announcement of an effective ban on new gas cars for half the driving population does not strike the appropriate balance of both protecting our environment and protecting businesses and consumers.

In fact, this ban is just the latest action from the Biden administration to infringe on Pennsylvanians’ and Americans’ freedoms, disrupt their daily lives and cause economic strife across our country. Instead of committing to American energy security, Biden has chosen to submit America to the whims of foreign governments such as Iran and Venezuela when it comes to energy, and to China when it comes to electric vehicles.

In a recent ruling, the EPA finalized a mandate on cars requiring that at least 56 percent of passenger vehicles must be electric within less than eight years, regardless of whether Americans want or can afford them. Despite sales of electric vehicles reaching just 6.9 percent of new vehicle market share in 2023, the Biden administration thinks it is achievable to force half of all cars sold by 2032 to be electric. With EVs costing upwards of $40,000 to $50,000, and the median household income in the U.S. at $74,580, many hardworking families simply cannot afford such an aggressive and costly mandate.

The EPA also announced its strictest-ever limits on heavy-duty trucks, which go far beyond the reality of today. The Clean Freight Coalition reported that electrifying the truck industry today could cost almost $1 trillion in upgrades to infrastructure, the electric grid and vehicles nationwide. Jed Mandel, president of the Truck and Engine Manufacturers Association, has said that this mandate “will end up being the most challenging, costly, and potentially disruptive heavy-duty emissions rule in history.”

Not only will these rules make cars and trucks more expensive, but they will also hinder an industry vital to Pennsylvania — freight shipment and trucking. TRIP, a national transportation research nonprofit, estimates that Pennsylvania’s freight system moved $1.1 trillion worth of goods in 2022, the fifth-largest amount in the U.S. Tens of thousands of jobs supported by the trucking industry are at risk due to rising costs, fewer work opportunities and less reliable fueling infrastructure. This economic impact will be felt across my district, as Pennsylvania’s supply chain and small businesses rely on shipping every single day.

Unfortunately, the legislation that would have prohibited the implementation of these onerous EPA rules failed recently in the Senate. I was not surprised to see both of Pennsylvania’s U.S. senators vote against this bill, despite the significant economic implications such mandates will have for our state.

Infringing on Americans’ long-enjoyed freedoms as consumers is already bad enough. But to push an EV agenda without proper infrastructure in place to support it is far worse. The charging stations simply do not exist to support a market that is 56 percent electric vehicles, nor will they in the next seven and a half years. It may take hundreds of EVs being stranded on the Pennsylvania Turnpike in a snowstorm for the Biden administration to recognize the error of its ways.

The mass adoption of electric vehicles, like other massive societal changes, requires both time and innovation. But Biden has an irrationally hasty agenda that weakens pro-growth innovation at every turn, beginning when he let the Trump-era Research and Development Tax Credit expire in 2022.

Further, the mass adoption of EVs without the necessary infrastructure will make the U.S. electric grid and battery market much more vulnerable to blackouts, which have already plagued some parts of the U.S. in recent years.

We need to be realistic. The grid cannot withstand such a dramatic usage increase, particularly as the Biden administration’s EPA implements rules that will also limit the nation’s ability to produce energy. Just last month, the EPA finalized a rule that would require coal plants that plan to stay open beyond 2039 to cut or capture 90 percent of their carbon dioxide emissions by 2032.

This attempt to force coal plants to retire ignores that coal produces more than 16 percent of our nation’s electricity, and that coal plants have already dramatically decreased their carbon emissions in recent years using innovative technology. This comes alongside the Biden administration’s constant assault on the natural gas industry, which produces 43 percent of electricity in the U.S. and is 50 percent cleaner than foreign natural gas. 

As former Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Jon Wellinghoff put it, “power quality issues” will “only get worse” with broader adoption of electric vehicles. Federal policymakers cannot afford to oversimplify the electrification process in favor of their environmental agenda.

Additionally, the subsidies and tax credits included in the Inflation Reduction Act are putting our national security at risk by prioritizing the purchasing of electric vehicles that rely on foreign-made materials. In January, 17 retired military officials sent a letter to Biden warning that China’s overwhelming dominance in the EV market opens the U.S. to economic manipulation. As a country, we cannot shift into this space without relying on China. In short, Biden is forcing American households to be subject to China’s price hikes, political whims and EV resources.

Simply put, the EPA gas car ban is wrong for Pennsylvania and for the U.S. Whether you’re an auto worker, a business owner or just a regular family that wants to buy the car that works best for your household, this mandate will affect us all. To put consumers, workers and energy security first, these harmful rules and the assault on our gas-powered auto economy must be stopped.

Dan Meuser, a Republican, represents Pennsylvania’s 9th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives.