(LifeSiteNews) — Wyoming legislators introduced a non-binding resolution on Friday that seeks to phase out the sale of new electric vehicles by 2035.
The bill’s sponsor, Senator Jim Anderson, told The Washington Post that the proposal is not a binding ban but “just a resolution” that seeks to discourage, not outright prohibit, the sale of electric cars in the state.
Indeed, the bill’s text states that “the legislature encourages Wyoming’s industries and citizens to limit the sale and purchase of new electric vehicles in Wyoming with a goal of phasing out the sale of new electric vehicles in Wyoming by 2035.”
The proposal explains several reasons behind its creation, including the support of Wyoming’s robust oil and gas industry. As of 2021, the state ranked as the eighth top producer of oil in the country.
“The oil and gas industry in Wyoming has created countless jobs and has contributed revenues … throughout the state’s history,” the bill states, going on to warn that “the proliferation of electric vehicles at the expense of gas-powered vehicles will have deleterious impacts on Wyoming’s communities and will be detrimental to Wyoming’s economy … ”
The proposal also claims that “Wyoming’s vast stretches of highway, coupled with a lack of electric vehicle charging infrastructure, make the widespread use of electric vehicles impracticable for the state,” and that such infrastructure would “require massive amounts of new power generation.”
Even the disposal of electric batteries in Wyoming would pose a difficulty, according to the bill, since “critical minerals used in electric batteries are not easily recyclable or disposable, meaning that municipal landfills in Wyoming … will be required to develop practices to dispose of these minerals in a safe and responsible manner.”
In an interview with The Washington Post, Anderson said the bill was motivated by California’s rules outright banning gas-powered vehicles by 2035 while allowing for a limited number of gas-electric hybrids.
“I have a problem with somebody saying, ‘Don’t buy any more petroleum vehicles,’” Anderson said, adding that he wants to “just to get the message out that we’re not happy with the states that are outlawing our vehicles.”
The Post noted that, considering California’s massive size and economic influence, its ban is “likely to affect” the auto industry “nationwide.”
New York, Massachusetts, Oregon, Washington state, and the European Union have since followed suit with rules banning gas-powered vehicles by 2035.
Global institutions such as the World Economic Forum and the United Nations are framing a transition from fossil fuels to “green” energy as an urgent necessity to help reduce global warming. Meanwhile, over 1,100 scientists and professionals signed a World Climate Declaration (WCD) last year declaring that “There is no climate emergency,” arguing that global warming is “far slower than predicted” and that “global warming has not increased natural disasters.”
Greenpeace co-founder Patrick Moore has called the “climate catastrophe,” a view that “human activity rather than natural phenomena is primarily responsible for Earth’s changing climate,” is “strictly a fear campaign.”