AFN recently reported that Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom told state regulators two years ago to adopt a ban on gas-powered cars by 2035 -- one piece of the state's aggressive suite of policies designed to reduce pollution and fight so-called climate change. If the policy works as designed, California figures it will have cut emissions from vehicles in half by 2040.
The Golden State is a huge market for automakers, many of which have already announced plans to build more electric vehicles (EVs) in the coming years. And as H. Sterling Burnett, Ph.D. of The Heartland Institute points out, automakers are not going to make different models for different states, especially if they want to continue selling their products in California.
"Because California is a large market -- even though it's shrinking as people leave the state and it becomes too unaffordable to live there -- automakers are likely, as many have indicated … to phase out gasoline-powered engines because they want to be able to continue to sell in the California market," Burnett says.
PBS concurs, saying, "California's move to ban sales of new gasoline-fueled cars could spread to other states."
"So, what California does ends up affecting everybody else," Burnett reiterates.
He does not think any state should have that kind of power.
