The Biden administration’s proposed fuel efficiency standards have been met with outcry this week, as it becomes clear that the goal is to limit the availability of gas-powered cars on the market.
At the head of this initiative is acting National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) head Ann Carlson, who, according to The Free Beacon, has a history of wanting to “force” Americans to live a “simpler life” in order to combat climate change. Carlson is a professor of environmental law at UCLA with no experience in the field. After fierce opposition from the GOP over her lack of qualifications, she was surprisingly retained as the acting head of the NHTSA and has now released a new set of fuel efficiency standards that will prioritize electric vehicles and force many gas-powered vehicles out of the market.
Her record of advocating for government intervention to do so seems to have largely gone unnoticed until now. In a 2007 paper titled “Only by Requiring Lifestyle Changes”, the professor argued that people would not reduce their energy consumption “voluntarily and drastically,” meaning that only through the implementation of government policies can Americans be forced into living more climate-friendly lifestyles.
Given the context and her history, it comes as no surprise that the recently approved standards will make it so majorly difficult for manufacturers to meet them that many gas-powered vehicles will effectively vanish from the market. Carlson is clearly dictating her own agenda here that includes an element of what she calls “lifestyle change.” In 2014, she said air conditioning was “a huge problem,” and in 2011, she ranked climate change up there with serious issues like being hit by baseballs.
Many have spoken out against the standards. United Auto Workers union president Rory Gamble said that “due to the limited availability of charging infrastructure and the cost of electric vehicles, Biden’s emission and fuel economy standards would be nearly impossible to achieve.”
But Carlson and the Biden administration seem to be intent on pushing their agenda anyway at the expense of major corporations, forcing them to comply with regulations that could severely alter their existing business models.
These are the actions of big-government, dictatorial-minded officials under the Biden administration. It’s rather unsettling, especially when it comes to matters like dictating how people must live their daily lives. And to Carlson’s credit, she has made it clear that she sees the need to go through with certain traditional beliefs, like using cars. It’s hard to see how measures to “save the planet” will turn out in the long run.
But as it stands, this is what we have to deal with for the foreseeable future. It’s frightening when government actors view basic elements like air conditioning as “a huge problem,” and suggest people do without such comforts, despite the fact that many cannot afford the price of an electric vehicle.
At the same time, it’s scarcely adequate to relegate such a “solution” to a personal choice when a vocal proponent of the measure laments that “most people will not engage in dramatic behavioral change unless forced.” It’s barely a week into this new rule, and the only thing we know for certain is that the situation is far from clear.
