Secretary Jennifer Granholm of the Department of Energy told lawmakers that the administration was not attempting to ban the use of internal combustion engines in passenger cars, after she was questioned by Republican Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming at a Senate Energy Committee hearing Thursday.
“The Department is right in the middle of the [Environmental Protection Agency]’s attempt to regulate the internal combustion engine out of existence,” Barrasso said. “The administration won’t stop until everything is electrified. … Why is the Biden administration trying to ban cars and trucks the people of Wyoming need to drive, to go from point A to point B in our large state?”
“The administration is not trying to ban anything, the administration – through the EPA – is trying to reduce emissions, and the emissions can be best reduced through electrification,” Granholm replied. “That might be through battery electrification, that might be through fuel cell[s], but there is not any effort to ban vehicles, internal combustion engine vehicles. We do know that it’s the largest source, of course, of greenhouse gas emissions, providing 30% of the source of emissions, and we all, I think everyone, agrees that we need to as a nation, continue to move towards efficiency, and that rule will do this.”
WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 23: U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm speaks during a daily news briefing at the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House on January 23, 2023 in Washington, DC. White Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre held a daily news briefing to answer questions from members of the press. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Barasso did not respond to Granholm, instead pivoting to ask about rising gas prices, which the Secretary blamed on a recent production cut from OPEC+.
The Biden administration’s recent tailpipe emissions rules are the strictest yet, which economists and industry experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation would eventually push gas-powered vehicles out of the market. Biden’s EPA also recently approved strict California regulations that would forbid the sale of diesel powered trucks after 2045, after the state introduced rules to ban the sale of new gas-powered passenger cars after 2035.
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