Critics are raising issue with a House Republican measure that seeks to block implementation of EPA emission standards for light-duty and medium-duty vehicles post model year 2026.
Republicans say implementation of the EPA emissions standards would force Americans to buy electric vehicles, which they cannot afford.
Leaders of the House Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition, including Co-Chairs Reps. Doris Matsui, Mike Quigley, and Paul Tonko, Vice Chairs Reps. Don Beyer of Virginia, Matt Cartwright, Sean Casten, Chellie Pingree, and Katie Porter, and Chair Emeritus Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia, responded to passage of the resolution.
“Once again, House Republicans are pandering to their oil and gas allies at the expense of the American people. The EPA emissions standards protect Americans from dangerous air pollution by placing reasonable limits on pollutants emitted by passenger vehicles and light trucks. These common-sense safeguards are widely supported across the board by everyone from vehicle manufacturers to union workers,” the leaders said.
According to the SEEC, the EPA’s emissions standards do not mandate electric vehicles on American roads. Instead, the standards are “a continuation of technology-neutral and performance-based standards that have spurred vehicle technology innovation and protected Americans’ health. If Republicans had their way, they would rob Americans of $13 billion in annual public health benefits and $6,000 in pocketbook savings over the lifetime of the vehicles covered by these standards.”
House Republicans also voted against EPA heavy-duty vehicle emissions standards, which further creates “unnecessary uncertainty in the U.S. vehicle market that is already rapidly innovating. At the exact same moment, SEEC joined in a celebration of American jobs and innovation in the clean heavy-duty vehicle industry, along with business leaders, vehicle manufacturers, union workers, truck drivers and parents and children who all collectively cheered on this burgeoning American manufacturing sector.”
The SEEC leaders said that both situations prove the sharp contrast of visions for America: “one stuck in a polluting past and the other building toward a clean future. We at SEEC will continue to fight to keep the U.S. in the driver’s seat leading the world in the clean energy transition.”
The SEEC is a coalition of 98 members of the U.S. House of Representatives founded in January 2009 to be a focused, active and effective coalition for advancing policies that address climate change, promote clean energy innovation and domestic manufacturing, develop renewable energy resources, create family-sustaining clean jobs, protect our nation’s air, water and natural environment, and promote environmental justice.
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Rebecca Barnabi
