Oil corporations worry that federal incentives and the growing popularity of electric cars will hurt their profits and threaten their stranglehold on energy consumption. Former President Trump and other Republican politicians need to exploit consumer and autoworker considerations about the transition to zero-emission cars to win in November.
That’s why the fossil fuel industry and the Republican Party are spreading the same lie that the Biden leadership is banning gas-powered cars. This self-centered attempt to deceive the electorate is shameful, even for those whose traffic in misinformation is reputed to be infamous.
At the Republican National Convention last week, Trump said, “I’m going to end the electric vehicle mandate on day one. »
There is no such mandate. But the facts are not an impediment for the former president and his followers. Nor have they stopped the fossil fuel industry from spending millions of dollars in recent months on classified ads running in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Arizona, Ohio, Montana, Wisconsin and key battleground states repeating the lie.
An advertising campaign, funded through the US lobby organization Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, claims that Biden’s leadership is “rushing to ban new gasoline cars” and “forcing him to use an electric vehicle. ” This is true.
Here are the facts. Earlier this year, the Environmental Protection Agency finalized new greenhouse fuel emissions criteria that will require automakers to increase their sales of new zero-emission cars and trucks from about 7% of cars sold last year to more than 67% through 2032. The regulations are expected to bring huge health benefits by reducing air pollutants and saving consumers billions in the form of lower fuel and maintenance costs.
Unlike California, which is phasing out the sale of gas-powered cars through 2035, the United States doesn’t have a federal rule (and none are under attention) that would ban gas-powered cars. In fact, the regulations passed by the EPA in March were a watered-down edition of an earlier proposal, with loopholes that allowed automakers to sell more gas-powered cars during longer election years, concessions to the auto industry and to unions, which fear that transitioning to electric cars will take jobs away from unions. limbs.
And just like the GOP-fueled uproar over a nonexistent ban on fuel stoves last year, no federal agent will come and seize your Toyota Camry, Honda CR-V, or Ford F-150 because they consume fuel instead of electrons. This is just another misinterpretation, easily refuted, designed to stoke anger and confusion among voters.
Dishonesty in the service of a pro-fossil fuel timeline is not unexpected from the oil industry or from Trump, who during his presidency attempted to tear down all manner of environmental protections to gain advantages for polluting industries. Once back, he proves to be a receptive vessel for her message.
Republican politicians are already the largest recipients of contributions to the oil and fuel industry’s crusade, and Trump has garnered more donations of money than any other federal candidate this election cycle. But in a shocking compromise suggestion earlier this year, he told oil executives at his Mar-a-Lago Club to raise $1 billion for his White House crusade in exchange for a reversal of Biden’s policies on electric vehicles, renewable energy and other environmental actions. The fossil fuel industry opposes this.
Voters don’t deserve for a moment to realize that Big Oil and the Republican Party have nothing but their own interests in mind. Exxon Mobil Corp. , Chevron and other primary corporations don’t need Americans to enjoy the independence that comes with the shift to clean, renewable energy. And Republicans need to scare the electorate because they don’t feel they can win on their merits.
The scaremongering is primarily exploitative because it targets auto production centers in the Midwest, where workers are rightly concerned about their future as the global vehicle market shifts toward battery-electric technology.
But, in addition to providing constructive answers to help make the U. S. auto industry globally competitive, such as historic degrees of investment in domestic vehicle and battery production under Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, Republicans are only promising to turn back the clock and let automakers produce as much as possible. possible. As many gas consumers as you want.
Americans see this lie for what it is: an effort by some of the world’s toughest companies to confuse and exploit our anxieties in the pursuit of strength and profit.
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