Senator Ricketts’ Weekly Column: An EV Mandate Lie from VP Kamala Harris

For years, Vice President Kamala Harris has supported some of the most extreme electric vehicle (EV) mandates proposed by her Party. She consistently supported EV mandates as U.S. Senator for California and as a presidential candidate in 2020. For three and a half years, the Biden-Harris Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has pushed an EV mandate that would require up to two-thirds of cars and trucks to be electric by 2032. Despite Harris’ record, just months before an election, the Harris campaign is lying about her beliefs. The campaign now claims the Vice President doesn’t support EV mandates. It’s a pathetic, transparent attempt to distance her from the unpopular mandates she has long supported. That lie should not go unchallenged.

Harris has long supported restrictive EV mandates. As Senator, she co-led the Zero-Emission Vehicles Act of 2019. This bill would require all new car sales be zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) by 2040. During her 2020 presidential campaign, she supported an effort to require all new car sales be ZEVs by 2035. As she said at a CNN townhall: “we will have basically zero-emission vehicles only. 100%.” She also supported requiring every new bus be a ZEV by 2030. Her record is clear on this issue. To suddenly say now she doesn’t support these mandates is a lie.

Unsurprisingly, denying previous support for these mandates isn’t the only lie radical EV proponents are spreading. Radicals like Harris have been misleading the American people about EV’s from the beginning. They’ve ignored that EVs will make necessary purchases more expensive for Nebraska families. Auto ownership is one of the greatest pathways out of poverty. The mandates will make auto ownership more difficult. This will hurt low-income families. Democrats have also refused to admit that EV mandates will increase our dependence on adversaries like the Chinese Communist Party, who lead in critical minerals production. They even refuse to acknowledge their complete failure to install enough public charging stations to make this a serious policy. Biden and Harris intended to install 500,000 stations across the country. Two years and $7.5 billion later, and the Biden-Harris administration has only built seven stations in four states. The lies need to stop.

The EPA’s EV mandates also minimize their negative environmental impacts. The EPA considers an EV to be a zero-emissions vehicle. However, an EV’s life cycle is far from zero-emissions. For example, the rare-earth minerals used in EV batteries require a carbon-intensive mining process. More than that, a majority of the new power needed to charge EVs will come from non-renewable sources. In May, I asked EPA Administrator Michael Regan how he justified the claim that EVs were zero-emissions. He told me he wasn’t sure the EPA’s model said that. He promised me a response. After three months, neither Regan nor his staff have followed up. That’s not good enough.

Here's the truth. It’s simply not possible anytime soon for our country to charge EVs with 100% renewable energy. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the state with the highest current percentage of power coming from renewable energy is Iowa. Only 60% of Iowa’s power comes from renewables. Nebraska ranks 12th with 31.7%. Meanwhile, East Coast states like Connecticut, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland all have 5% or less from renewables. These are the same states with more EVs. The EPA had no business using 100% as an assumption.

When asked about some of her alleged and sudden policy reversals, Kamala Harris said her “values have not changed.” If that’s the case, then we know no matter what she says, Harris’ San Francisco values will lead to less freedom and more mandates. I will always fight for more freedom and less Washington mandates. I’ve consistently opposed the Biden-Harris administration’s EV mandates. I’ve introduced and supported numerous pieces of legislation to overturn them. And I will continue fighting until these EV mandates are blocked or overturned.