02.22.24

Hoeven, Colleagues Call on Biden Administration to Withdraw Costly, Overreaching EV Mandate

BISMARCK, N.D. – Senator John Hoeven (R-N.D.), a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, this week joined Senator Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and Rep. Randy Feenstra (R-Iowa) in calling on the Biden administration to withdraw a proposed rule from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requiring 67 percent of new light-duty vehicles and 46 percent of medium-duty vehicles to be electric by 2032. This rule amounts to a de facto mandate for electric vehicles (EVs) and phase out of the internal combustion engine vehicle.

Last year, Hoeven and Crapo introduced the Choice in Automobile Retail Sales (CARS) Act, legislation to prevent implementation of the EPA rule and preserve the availability of new vehicles for consumers. In December, the House passed the companion bill to the CARS Act, which awaits consideration by the Senate.

“This rule is contradictory to all conventional predictions about where the automobile industry is headed in the coming years, including this administration’s own Department of Energy,” wrote the members of Congress. “As reported in the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s Annual Energy Outlook in 2021, 4 of 5 new vehicles will still run on liquid fuels in 2050, making this rule not just absurd to the average citizen, but to your own agencies as well.

“The reality is that most Americans still prefer the internal combustion engine vehicle, and EPA’s proposed rule unnecessarily restricts consumer choice and forces expensive EVs onto Americans at a time when they can least afford it. Major U.S. automakers have recently lowered their targets and pulled back planned investments in EVs due to low consumer demand and struggling EV units. Further, automobile dealers across the country have said EVs continue to sit unpurchased on dealership lots, despite automakers accepting massive losses and unsustainable government incentives.”

Hoeven, Crapo and Feenstra are joined in this effort by nearly 140 members of the Senate and House. The full text of the letter can be found here.