Late last month Senator Paul Gazelka, the Republican leader of the Senate, told the Minnesota Reformer that the Republican controlled Senate would likely fire the acting Commissioner of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, Laura Bishop, if the Agency, at the behest of the Governor, went ahead with the Clean Car Rule.
The rule would require automakers to increase the number of electric vehicles they deliver to Minnesota auto dealers.
Gazelka told The Reformer that he’d had “a conversation” with Bishop about the rule. Bishop has not been confirmed by the Senate. Gazelka, and his Republican colleagues, claim that electric vehicles are too expensive and that the rule would be a burden to Minnesotans.
Gazelka, and the rest of his Party are wrong. They aren’t paying attention to the economics of EV ownership and they are not paying attention to consumer preferences.
Way back in September 2019, Consumer Reports reported on a study of Minnesotans they had done in collaboration with the Union of Concerned Scientists. The study found that:
*About 6 in 10 prospective car buyers in Minnesota are interested in electric vehicles, including 30 percent who say they would consider buying or leasing one within the next two years.
*66 percent of prospective Minnesota car buyers want automakers to provide more types of electric vehicles, like SUVs, pickup trucks, and minivans.
Last month, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology reported on their study that found that electric cars are less costly than almost all gasoline powered vehicles.
The study was reported on by the New York Times and CO2 Logic, among other media sources.
“For electric cars, lower maintenance costs and the lower costs of charging compared with gasoline prices tend to offset the higher upfront price over time,” wrote C02 Logic.
The study was done by MIT’s Trancik Lab and the comparisons of gasoline, gas-electric hybrids, and all electric vehicles can be found at the Lab’s carboncounter.com
Since Minnesotans want more electric cars and since those cars would be less expensive to operate, Minnesota Republicans should join the rest of us and support the Clean Car Rule.
MN350 is asking Minnesota citizens to submit comments to the MPCA in support of the Clean Car Rule. You can find information on how to do that by visiting their website, MN350.org.
Tim
Central Minnesota Political
By John King In Selma, Alabama, on Sunday, March 7, 1965, John Lewis, standing in the lead of a long line of marchers, looked down from the crest of The Edmund Pettus Bridge at the line of police armed with clubs, whips and truncheons and said, “I am going to die here.” Lewis intended to lead the marchers from Selma to the capital Montgomery, to demand access to voting for Black people in Alabama. Sheriff Jim Clark lowered his gas mask and led the deputies, some on horseback and some on foot, into the line of marchers. Under swinging clubs and hooves trampling, Lewis was the first to go down. Women and children were not spared. Choking and blinded by tear gas, they were struck by clubs and truncheons wrapped with barbed wire. Lewis, with a fractured skull and a severe concussion, almost did die. The nearby Good Samaritan Hospital did not have enough beds to care for the injured marchers. A nation watched in horror as news footage of that bloody day appeared on T
Rural drivers like his constituents stand to benefit the most from EVs, to the tune of $2000 per year according to UCS! His opposition is pure ideology and not based in reality, a remnant of the dying fossil fuel industry hold on party.
ReplyDeletehttps://energynews.us/2020/11/08/northeast/the-drive-toward-vehicle-electrification-in-maine/
That's my thinking. Gazelka and his ilk are living in the past. - Tim
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