The 10th Amendment to the United States Constitution, the highest law in the land, which applies to every person, to the federal, state, and local governments, and all elected officials, officers, and employees therein, states:
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.
The Biden administration is ignoring this constitutional restriction yet again in issuing a new set of tailpipe rules, rules that the federal government has no constitutional authority to issue. These rules will attempt to push American drivers towards electric and hybrid vehicles, regardless of their lifestyle, personal needs, and personal choices.
The Biden administration on Wednesday finalized one of the most significant pieces of its ambitious climate agenda: new tailpipe rules for passenger cars and trucks that will decisively push the US auto market toward electric vehicles and hybrids.
But in a concession to automakers and labor unions, the rules will be phased in more slowly than originally proposed and will give automakers more choices for how to comply.
Nearly a year ago, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed a fast ramp-up into EVs — a rule that would have ensured two-thirds of all vehicles sold were electric by the end of this decade. The EPA pumped the brakes on that plan Wednesday.
First, I'm going to give CNN some mild props for the play on words in that last sentence.
Second, this is not only unconstitutional, but it's a bad rule, done for all the wrong reasons. The technology just isn't there, and the claims made about these vehicles, from their economic impact to the cost of operation to the pollution associated with them, are just wrong.
See Related: An Inconvenient Truth—EVs Emit More Particulate Matter Than Gas-Powered Vehicles, According to Report
'EV Euphoria Is Dead': CNBC Declares Transition to Electric Vehicles Has Failed
Not that Joe Biden is attuned to anything within shouting distance of reality in this matter:
In a statement Wednesday, President Joe Biden vowed the cars would be made by American workers.
“US workers will lead the world on autos making clean cars and trucks, each stamped ‘Made in America,’” Biden said. “You have my word.”
Except, of course, for the batteries. And, let's be honest, when was the last time Joe Biden's word was worth anything?
This rule is precisely what former President Donald Trump was warning us about in his much-derided — and misrepresented — "bloodbath" comment. My colleague Nick Arama pointed this out on Tuesday and described the background of that comment, the fallout from that comment, along with the Biden administration's plans for these new rules, which prompted the former president to make that remark:
As Nick wrote:
Not only would that wreak havoc on the auto industry -- one might even call it a "bloodbath" -- it will create more dependence on China. Funny how Biden is pushing for that, given the money his family has gotten from the People's Republic.
This rule will have a questionable effect on the stated goal of reducing pollution. What effect it will doubtlessly have, as does every regulation with which the federal government sticks its finger in the economy and stirs, will be to make life in general more expensive for American consumers. Not only will these vehicles be more expensive to buy and maintain, but there is also the matter of commercial trucks. Those do not appear to be further regulated in this rule, but it's only a matter of time before that happens. California, after all, has already shown the way forward on that. This will, of course, have the effect of increasing the cost of every item that is shipped from anywhere to anywhere at any point in the supply chain.
And, of course, there are those of us who live in areas where electric — or even hybrid — vehicles just aren't practical. Not only here in Alaska, but in places like Wyoming, northern Idaho, or North Dakota; places where winter temperatures routinely drop below zero, greatly reducing the range of EVs, places where there will be few, if any, charging stations available for public use, and places where the costs to consumers of traditional vehicles will be rising dramatically as the supply, as mandated by government, decreases.
It's easy to be encouraged — somewhat — by the swing-state polls that at this moment are indicating a victory by Donald Trump in November, but we should remember that federal regulations are like vampires: They not only drain the lifeblood out of the economy but are apparently immortal.
Will these people ever be held to account? By this point, the vast majority of what the United States government does is prohibited to them by the Constitution. This rule has no constitutional authorization and, therefore, should be precluded by the 10th Amendment. The Environmental Protection Agency itself is precluded by the 10th Amendment. But the federal government has been routinely ignoring the 10th Amendment for many decades now, and it is now sadly obvious that they harbor no notions of ever looking at that constitutional restriction, ever again.
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