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Legislators in the nation’s least populous state are braving modernity and fighting climate change. They sponsor SJ0004 “Phase out new electric vehicle sales by 2035.” This is a simple bill that states the state’s goal to phase out new EV sales by 2035 and calls on Wyoming’s industry and citizens to fulfill their civic duty to resist EVs. Copies will be sent to the White House, congressional leaders, and the Governor of California.
According to the bill’s preamble, the motivation is that the oil and gas industry is important to states with less than 600,000 people. Wyoming prides itself on its oil and gas industry, and its gas (which probably means “gasoline” here, not natural gas as mentioned in the bill’s first sentence) is distributed on the state’s vast highways. powers vehicles that run on
The bill’s drafters believe Wyoming’s interstate network is too dilapidated for electric vehicles, especially because there is no existing EV charging infrastructure, they argue.
The authors also point out that, apparently ignorant of the fact that EVs require certain key minerals (which are not currently sourced from Wyoming), and the vast recycling potential of EV batteries, that these will eventually Blame it on the fact that it can pollute Wyoming landfills.
So, to protect the incomes of those who make money extracting hydrocarbons from the land or moving them around the state, Wyoming must ban new EV sales by 2035. claims the bill.
The date is no accident. 2035 is the year California wants to phase out the sale of new vehicles powered by internal combustion engines. And that same year, U.S. President Joe Biden said he wants at least 50% of all new cars sold in the U.S. to be EVs.
sounds like a projection to me
The politics of resentment come through clearly from the bill’s main sponsor, Senator Jim Anderson. Anderson told the Cowboy State Daily that if successful, the Wyoming legislature would let the world know that “if they don’t like our oil cars, they don’t like electric cars either.”
But even if the bill were to pass, given the firm Republican control of both houses of the Wyoming legislature, it would not be impossible for the state to take action other than general condemnation of battery-powered vehicles. is not intended to restrict
In fact, the Cowboy State Daily quoted another politician behind the bill, State Sen. It’s a very serious problem that deserves to be addressed,” he said.
