Republicans are taking aim, again, at California’s electric-trucks mandate, an executive order signed by Gavin Newsom in 2020 that set into motion a ban on new diesel trucks that would take effect in 2035.
That seems pretty far out into the future, still 10-plus years from where we are today, more than enough time for the auto industry to do what it needs to do to be able to shift big rigs and other trucks to zero-emissions.
Not to the likes of Jason Miyares, Virginia’s Republican attorney general, who is expected to be mounting a bid for his party’s nomination for governor in the 2025 cycle.
“California is playing games with America’s livelihood. This mandate doesn’t just affect California. It weaponizes the state’s massive ports to force the entire nation to bow to an extreme environmental agenda,” said Miyares, using that favorite word of MAGA Republicans these days, “weaponize.”
“California’s so-called ‘in-state’ ban is nothing more than an export of California’s economic chaos, creating real harm across American industries and raising costs for families everywhere. The federal government should not preference California to the detriment of the other 49 states,” said Miyares, who has signed on to a letter with 23 fellow MAGA Republican state AGs urging the Biden administration to block the California environmental regulation, which, again, doesn’t impact the market at all for another decade.
“Through Advanced Clean Fleets, California is attempting to export its radical climate agenda to our States, using its large population, market share, and access to international ports on the West Coast to force nationwide compliance with its ban on internal-combustion trucks. Our States oppose this unprecedented overreach,” the letter, led by Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers, proclaims.
Again, none of this happens for 10 years.
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Chris Graham
