(Watch) CT GOP lawmakers: “Our fight against EV mandates is not over.”

For Immediate Release

CT GOP lawmakers:

“Our fight against electric vehicle mandates is not over.”

Urge public to speak out

(Watch the press conference video here.)

Senate Republican Leader Stephen Harding and House Republican Leader Vincent Candelora today warned Connecticut residents that Democrats have not given up on their electric vehicle mandate, explaining that pending legislation provides a “roadmap” for the majority party to launch a full-throttle pursuit of their ban on gas-powered vehicles after Election Day.

A public hearing will be held Wednesday, Mar. 13 at 10 a.m. in Room 2E of the Legislative Office Building. Click here to submit testimony on House Bill 5485. Click here to register to speak.

The bill calls for the creation of an “Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Coordinating Council” which is tasked with creating a “Zero Emission Vehicle Roadmap”.

“Our fight against electric vehicle mandates is not over,” said Harding and Candelora. “Democrats will renew their push after Election Day to ban gas-powered vehicles and they’ll use this ‘roadmap’ as a selling point to justify their decision with a skeptical public, claiming they’ve researched and addressed with everyone’s concerns. The reality, though, is that this council created by this bill is a public relations tool designed to shoehorn our state into the California’s radical emissions standards. It isn’t a catalyst to develop solutions to citizens’ common sense concerns about cost, charging infrastructure and freedom of choice.”

Harding and Candelora noted that the roadmap does not require a review of the costs associated with:

• charging infrastructure
• electric grid upgrades
• increased electric supply needed
• end of life battery disposal
• additional shipping costs
• adverse impact on transportation infrastructure from increased weight of EVs
• gas tax revenue replacement

The roadmap also does not:

• require a review of the adverse environmental aspects of EVs, such as mining of raw materials and excessive tire debris
• require a review of issues relating to pollution from other states traveling east to Connecticut

The Republican lawmakers said while they support efforts to protect the environment and to make the air cleaner, the multiple question marks and contradictions surrounding the mandate’s achievability, affordability, and budgetary impact remain serious concerns.