As the Biden administration and his greenie allies continue to make a headlong push for electric vehicles, the state of Wyoming seems to be going in the exact opposite direction.
Lawmakers in the state are considering a new law that would phase out electric vehicles by 2035, which is a policy that runs completely contrary to states like New York and California which, in obeisance to the green agenda, want to phase out gas-powered cars and boost electric vehicles.
The bill, SJ0004, is being sponsored by state Senators Jim Anderson, Brian Boner, Ed Cooper, Dan Dockstader, and Representatives Donald Burkhart Jr., and Bill Henderson, to “ensure the stability” of its oil and gas industry, according to the Tesla industry news site Teslarati.
The lawmakers say that the state’s proud oil industry has created “countless jobs” and contributed “revenues to the state of Wyoming throughout the state’s history.”
“The proliferation of electric vehicles at the expense of gas-powered vehicles will have deleterious impacts on Wyoming’s communities and will be detrimental to Wyoming’s economy and the ability for the country to efficiently engage in commerce,” the officials said.
The group said that, among their other problems, the lack of an EV charging infrastructure in the state would “make the widespread use of electric vehicles impracticable for the state.”
The lawmakers also say that electric vehicles present an ecological problem because the massive battery packs are “not easily recyclable or disposable” and would force the state to develop new policies and facilities to dispose of the batteries.
“Phasing out the sale of new electric vehicles in Wyoming by 2035 will ensure the stability of Wyoming’s oil and gas industry and will help preserve the country’s critical minerals for vital purposes,” the bill adds.
“In 2021, Wyoming ranked eighth nationally in crude oil production, producing 85.43 million barrels of crude oil. In February 2022, a study by Allied Market Research found that the global EV market will grow in valuation by five times by 2030. In 2020, the EV market size was valued at $163.01 billion. The new study expects that number to reach $823.74 billion by 2030,” Teslarati noted.
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Meanwhile, the Biden administration is pushing electric vehicles for all they are worth, despite the supply chain issue — especially for those expensive battery packs.
Biden is also attempting to steer tax dollars to mining interests in China and Canada to fuel his obsession with EVs.
Still, while most car makers are all-in on the idea of pushing electric vehicles, at least one industry leader isn’t so sure. Toyota Motor Corp. President Akio Toyoda recently said that there is a “silent majority” of industry insiders who secretly think that going all-electric is not necessarily the best idea.
“People involved in the auto industry are largely a silent majority,” Toyoda said in Dec. “That silent majority is wondering whether EVs are really OK to have as a single option. But they think it’s the trend so they can’t speak out loudly.”
Wyoming’s debate is also more evidence of how green politics is cleaving America into two camps.
As Biden and the rest of the far left try to push unattainable climate change goals — such as a net zero emissions policy — and lefties such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders vilify opponents of the green agenda, others are pushing back against the radical greens and their demands.
Indeed, Wyoming officials spoke out against the trend of EVs last October when the state government rejected the green agenda and said it had no plans at all to turn its government-owned vehicle fleets towards EVs.
Residents of The Cowboy State seem to agree with their elected officials. As of Dec. 31, there were but a mere 510 electric vehicles in Wyoming, only .04 percent of the registered vehicles in the state, according to Electrek.
Electrek also found that several other states have similarly low numbers of EVs, including North Dakota (220), South Dakota (410), West Virginia (600), Mississippi (780), and Montana (940). Probably unsurprisingly, California leads with a whopping 425,300 registered EVs.
Perhaps the message that Wyoming is sending to the greenies will be heard by lawmakers in other states and a new trend to turn back the march toward electric vehicles will begin in earnest.
