Since the rollout of Henry Ford’s Model T a century ago, internal-combustion cars have offered Americans incredible performance, comfort, and personal freedom at prices most families can afford. And since the 1970s, automobile manufacturers have reduced smog-forming emissions by an astonishing 99%—twice, and cars are getting even cleaner.
Today, however, without Congress lifting a finger, the Biden EPA has signed a death warrant for internal-combustion powertrains, and a century of innovation. The rule would silence the V-6 engine and discard the American car industry as we know it.
EPA and its apologists will tell you this is no electric-car mandate. Don’t be fooled. The EPA rule sets motor vehicle emission standards for carbon dioxide (and other pollutants) that cannot be met by gas or diesel cars, even hybrids. That’s a mandate.
EPA and its apologists will tell you that, although the rule is definitely not an electric-car mandate, the mandated electric cars are good for consumers. Don’t be fooled. The rule will devastate consumer choice by mandating electric cars few consumers want, while raising quality-adjusted prices for gas cars and trucks to levels unseen since before the Model T.
EPA and its apologists will tell you that, even though the rule is definitely not an electric-car mandate, the mandated electric cars are good for “equity.” Don’t be fooled. The rule’s view of “equity” is taxpayers and gas car buyers subsidizing a Malibu plastic surgeon’s Tesla.
EPA and its apologists will tell you that, even though the rule is definitely not an electric-car mandate, the mandated electric cars are good for the environment. Don’t be fooled. The unregulated, Chinese-dominated supply chain for electric car batteries will destroy landscapes and emit vast amounts of carbon and toxic pollution all over the world.
Fortunately, EPA lacks any legal authority to announce the death of the internal-combustion engine in the pages of the Federal Register. We look forward to EPA’s judgment day at the Supreme Court.
Hon. William Barr, Chairman of the Center for Legal Action’s Advisory Board
Gentry Collins, CEO, The American Free Enterprise Chamber of Commerce