By Eric Quintanar
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Sep 23, 2020 DailyWire.com
California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) announced Wednesday that all car companies will be prohibited from selling new non-zero emission cars and passenger trucks beginning in 2035 in order to get the state closer to its reduced Greenhouse Gas Emissions goals.
“This is the most impactful step our state can take to fight climate change,” said Newsom in a statement. “For too many decades, we have allowed cars to pollute the air that our children and families breathe. Californians shouldn’t have to worry if our cars are giving our kids asthma. Our cars shouldn’t make wildfires worse – and create more days filled with smoky air. Cars shouldn’t melt glaciers or raise sea levels threatening our cherished beaches and coastlines.”
The governor enacted the change via an executive order, which does not require approval from the Democrat-dominated California legislature. The executive order does not apply to future used vehicle sales.
According to The Los Angeles Times, Newsom sold the executive order in a press conference as a way to reduce asthma, curb rising sea levels, and preserve ice sheets, and suggested that other states follow his policy mandate.
The governor’s executive order received pushback from Democratic Assemblymember Jim Cooper, who pointed out how electric vehicles are inaccessible to most Californians.
“The EV’s pictured in today’s signing of the EO cost more than $50k each. How will my constituents afford an EV? They can’t. They currently drive 11-year-old vehicles. This doesn’t even take into account the strain an all electric vehicle fleet will have on our state electric grid,” tweeted Cooper.
According to The San Francisco Chronicle, fewer than 6% of cars sold in California in 2019 fall under the governor’s zero-emission standard.
Despite the current cost of electric vehicles, the governor’s office maintained in a statement that by 2035, “zero-emission vehicles will almost certainly be cheaper and better than the traditional fossil fuel powered cars.” The governor’s office also claimed the cost of electric vehicles and “conventional vehicles” will reach parity in several years.
California state Senator Shannon Grove (R) accused Newsom of “chasing headlines instead of focusing on the immediate and real problems of this state such as high housing costs, the energy grid, forestry management neglect, the homeless problem, paying UI claims, or getting schools open.”
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