Kentucky and West Virginia are the leaders of a 25-state coalition, which formed to challenge the Biden administration’s emission proposal that would phase out fossil fuel-powered vehicles and switch to electric.
Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, the West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and a coalition of their peers sent a 20-page letter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan with comments critical of the EPA’s proposed Multi-Pollutant Emissions Standards for Model Years 2027 and Later Light-Duty and Medium-Duty Vehicles.
“This would have devastating effects in the daily lives of consumers — many of whom are already suffering from the burdens of historically high inflation,” Morrisey declared. “This is an attack on rural America and rural Americans who are working really hard to make ends meet who are going to get bludgeoned by this rule.”
He doubled-down on his goal of protecting his residence finances during economic challenges. Morrisey accused the Biden administration of trying to destroy U.S. energy production through emission regulations that would force closure of coal- and gas-fired power plants that form the nation’s power generation backbone.
“We have settled this issue in last year’s U.S. Supreme Court decision in West Virginia v. EPA, which specifically ruled the EPA must regulate within the express boundaries of the statute that Congress passed — the agency can’t regulate similar matters without explicit congressional authorization,” Morrisey said.
“President [Joe] Biden wants to use the power of government to force a massive shift in demand for automobiles, with the government putting its thumb on the scale in favor of EVs. But Americans don’t want what he is selling,” Cameron stated in an announcement. “This is the latest head-in-the-sand approach to achieving the left’s impossible green-energy fantasies. Government shouldn’t pick winners and losers, and an EPA rule that would kill gas-powered vehicles does just that.”
The three page letter has been signed from Attorney Generals from Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming.
“The numbers are staggering: EPA expects that the proposal will create enough EVs to penetrate 67% and 46% of overall light- and medium-duty vehicle sales, respectively, in less than a decade,” the attorneys general noted. If the proposed rule is adopted it “would damage our economy, tax our electrical grids and the families and businesses who depend on them, and threaten our national security,” the letter reads.
The letter also states that a major issue with the emission proposal is that it presents inaccurate cost-benefit projections.
“The alleged savings for reduced fuel consumption are based on layers of speculation. The shift to EVs is projected to ‘reduce liquid fuel consumption (gasoline and diesel) while simultaneously increasing electricity consumption,’ ” noted the letter.
“Whether such a transformation is possible given resource limitations, geopolitical factors, permitting issues, land-use debates, jurisdictional policy differences and litigation is still to be determined. Even if it is possible, EPA cannot predict with any accuracy the costs to the retail ratepayer for completing such a drastic transition. In short, no one knows with enough certainty to justify massive regulatory shifts whether charging an EV will be more cost-effective than refueling a gasoline engine.”
