Republicans Prepare to Pummel EPA over Tailpipe Rule: A House Oversight and Accountability Subcommittee Is Also Focusing on the Administration's Electric Vehicle Push. Public Comments Due July 5, 2023

by Emma Dumain (Politico Pro/E&E Daily) The House Oversight and Accountability Committee, under Republican leadership, will continue to challenge the Biden administration’s environmental agenda this week. On Wednesday, the Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Energy Policy and Regulatory Affairs will hold a hearing titled “Driving Bad Policy: Examining EPA’s Tailpipe Emissions Rules and the Realities of a Rapid Electric Vehicle Transition.”

Members will, according to a press release, consider the consequences of the agency’s proposed rule to limit smog, soot and carbon from cars and trucks starting with model year 2027.

The move is designed to hasten the advent of electric vehicles by the time the new tailpipe emissions standards are fully implemented in model year 2032 — or, as committee Republicans say, “to force a radical increase in the number of EVs on America’s roads and impose sweeping green regulations on traditional cars.”

“The impact this would have on American consumers cannot be understated,” subcommittee Chair Pat Fallon (R-Texas) asserted in a statement. READ MORE

Excerpt from U.S. House Oversight and Accountability Committee: Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Energy Policy, and Regulatory Affairs Chairman Pat Fallon (R-Texas) will hold a hearing titled “Driving Bad Policy: Examining EPA’s Tailpipe Emissions Rules and the Realities of a Rapid Electric Vehicle Transition.” The subcommittee hearing will examine the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) new proposed vehicle emissions standards rules, which attempt to force a radical increase in the number of EVs on America’s roads and impose sweeping green regulation on traditional cars, trucks, other highway vehicles, and locomotives. This hearing will also take into account the potential short and long-term effects the EPA’s proposed rules would have on American consumers, America’s electric grid, and other key issues.

“The Biden Administration’s pursuit of radical Green New Deal policies has continued in the form of the EPA’s new vehicle emissions standards rules. The impact this would have on American consumers cannot be overstated. This is the largest attempt at green regulation of U.S. cars, trucks, and locomotives that we’ve ever seen and could require that 67 percent of all new cars sold are EVs by 2032. The EPA has even declined to appear before the subcommittee to defend the Biden Administration’s policies on this issue.A shift of this magnitude towards the progressive utopia of exclusively electric vehicles could have untold national security implications as well as trigger nationwide blackouts if fossil fuel power plants are taken offline before the grid is stabilized. As long as the Biden Administration continues pursuing radical green regulations that will drive up costs on American consumers and create turmoil in the U.S. energy sector, Committee Republicans will swiftly push back and exercise forceful oversight,” said Subcommittee Chairman Fallon.

WHAT: Hearing titled “Driving Bad Policy: Examining EPA’s Tailpipe Emissions Rules and the Realities of a Rapid Electric Vehicle Transition”

The hearing will be open to the public and press and will be livestreamed online at https://oversight.house.gov/.

Excerpt from The Hill: Some people love electric vehicles (EVs). They drive them relatively short distances to work, charge them overnight in their garages and never stop for gas. Others, due to cost, convenience and climate, prefer gasoline-powered vehicles.

Thankfully, Americans today still have that choice. But if the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) latest proposed rule on car emissions is finalized as written, they won’t for much longer.

The new rule would require 60 percent of vehicles sold in the U.S. to be battery-powered electric by 2030 and 67 percent by 2032, compared to just 6 percent today. This would effectively eliminate the choice of gasoline-powered cars for American drivers and make the economy more dependent on China, a source of the minerals needed to create their batteries.