Today, U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Ranking Member of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, released the below statement after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced its finalized rules that impose burdensome new emissions standards on American-made vehicles.

“With the final electric vehicle rules announced today, the Biden administration is deciding for Americans which kinds of cars they are allowed to buy, rent, and drive. Ironically, this is all coming at a time when the EPA is simultaneously forcing the closure of power plants that provide the baseload electricity these vehicles will rely on. These regulations represent yet another step toward an unrealistic transition to electric vehicles that Americans do not want and cannot afford, which threatens America’s electric grid and increases our reliance on China for critical minerals. I appreciate EPW Committee members Senator Ricketts and Senator Sullivan leading the congressional effort to overturn this harmful rule.”

BACKGROUND:

In May 2023, Ranking Member Capito led 26 of her colleagues in writing to EPA Administrator Michael Regan urging him to withdraw the proposed rule. In April 2023, Ranking Member Capito participated in an EPW subcommittee hearing to examine the new vehicle emissions rules, highlighting the multiple problems with the misguided new standards.