Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Newsom Moves to Ban Sale of New Gas-Powered Cars in California
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 4 years ago on
September 23, 2020

Share

California will halt sales of new gasoline-powered passenger cars and trucks by 2035, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday, a move he says will cut greenhouse gas emissions by 35% in the nation’s most populous state.

The proposed rule would not ban people from owning gas-powered cars or selling them on the used car market. But it would end the sales of all new gasoline-powered passenger cars and trucks in the state of nearly 40 million people.

“Pull away from the gas pumps,” Newsom said. “Let us no longer be victims of geopolitical dictators that manipulate global supply chains and global markets.”

California and the roughly dozen states that follow its lead on auto emissions standards make up a significant part of the U.S. auto market, giving the day’s move huge potential impact for the U.S. automobile industry as well as for long-term efforts against pollution and climate change, which is driven by fossil-fuel emissions. It also is likely to meet opposition from President Donald Trump, who wants to roll back tougher Obama-era auto emissions standards and is battling California to force it to comply.

California already has rules mandating a certain percentage of new car sales must be electric or zero-emission vehicles. This rule, if implemented, would make California the first U.S. state with a plan to phase them out completely.

At least 15 other countries have already made similar commitments, including Germany, France and Norway.

Newsom’s order directs the California Air Resources Board to develop and approve regulations to meet the 2035 deadline. He also ordered them to make a rule requiring all medium and heavy-duty trucks be 100% zero-emission vehicles by 2045 “where feasible.”

In this July 19, 2019 file photo, a Tesla vehicle charges at a Tesla Supercharger site in Charlotte, N.C. Tesla owners can now buy insurance policies from the electric car company in what may be an essential step toward it selling driverless vehicles. The company says it’s now selling policies in California and will go nationwide at an undisclosed date. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton, File)

Fracking Is a Technique That Allows Energy Companies to Extract Huge Volumes of Oil and Gas

Newsom also directed state agencies to speed up development of charging stations across the state and called on the Legislature to eliminate new fracking licenses by 2024.

Fracking is a technique that allows energy companies to extract huge volumes of oil and gas from shale rock deep underground. It involves injecting high-pressure mixtures of water, sand or gravel and chemicals into rock. Fracking opponents say the chemicals involved threaten water supplies and public health.

Kassie Siegel, director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute, called Newsom’s order “a big step” but said it “provided rhetoric rather than real action on the other critical half of the climate problem — California’s dirty oil production.”

“Newsom can’t claim climate leadership while handing out permits to oil companies to drill and frack,” she said. “He has the power to protect Californians from oil industry pollution, and he needs to use it, not pass the buck.”

California has a goal of relying 100% on clean, renewable energy by 2045. Gasoline and diesel-powered cars and trucks are the biggest impediment to reaching that goal as they account for more than half of the state’s carbon pollution.

The order comes as massive wildfires have burned a record 5,600 square miles (14,500 square kilometers) in California this year. Experts say the size and intensity of the fires are aided by warmer temperatures and years of drought brought on by climate change.

DON'T MISS

Wired Wednesday: Breaking Down the Lawsuit vs. Community Health System

DON'T MISS

Friant Needs $90 Million to Pay for Massive Canal Project. Who Will Pony Up?

DON'T MISS

UCLA Can’t Let Protesters Block Jewish Students From Campus, Judge Says

DON'T MISS

Ukraine’s Surprise Attack Has Forced Russia to Change Plans

DON'T MISS

Californians Will Vote on $18 Minimum Wage. Workers Want $25 and More.

DON'T MISS

Ricardo Lara Deserves Credit for Trying to Solve California’s Home Insurance Crisis

DON'T MISS

Mark Gardner on Giants’ 2014 World Series Title, Why Fresno Turns Out Great Players

DON'T MISS

Presented With Rise in Border Crossings, Kamala Harris Chose a Long-Term Approach to the Problem

DON'T MISS

WHO Declares Mpox Outbreaks in Africa a Global Health Emergency as a New Form of the Virus Spreads

DON'T MISS

What the Republican Party Might Look Like if Trump Loses

UP NEXT

San Francisco Prosecutors Charge 26 Pro-Palestinian Demonstrators Who Blocked Golden Gate Bridge

UP NEXT

California Task Force Seizes 2.2 Million Cannabis Packages Mimicking Kids’ Candy

UP NEXT

Police Investigate Fatal Shooting in Southeast Fresno

UP NEXT

Leaked Videos Reveal Project 2025’s Radical Plans for Trump-like Administration

UP NEXT

Former Cornell Student Gets 21 Months in Prison for Posting Violent Threats to Jewish Students

UP NEXT

California Gov. Gavin Newsom Nudges School Districts to Restrict Student Cellphone Use

UP NEXT

Feds Charge ex-LA County Deputies in Sham Raid, $37M Extortion

UP NEXT

Earthquake With Magnitude of 4.4 Strikes Los Angeles Area, USGS Says

UP NEXT

Activists Demand Harris Take Action Against Israeli ‘Genocide’ at SF Rally

UP NEXT

Harris Hopes a New Playbook Will Neutralize GOP Attacks on Immigration

Ukraine’s Surprise Attack Has Forced Russia to Change Plans

2 hours ago

Californians Will Vote on $18 Minimum Wage. Workers Want $25 and More.

3 hours ago

Ricardo Lara Deserves Credit for Trying to Solve California’s Home Insurance Crisis

4 hours ago

Mark Gardner on Giants’ 2014 World Series Title, Why Fresno Turns Out Great Players

4 hours ago

Presented With Rise in Border Crossings, Kamala Harris Chose a Long-Term Approach to the Problem

4 hours ago

WHO Declares Mpox Outbreaks in Africa a Global Health Emergency as a New Form of the Virus Spreads

4 hours ago

What the Republican Party Might Look Like if Trump Loses

5 hours ago

Vikings QB McCarthy Needs Surgery on Meniscus Tear in Right Knee

5 hours ago

Japan’s Prime Minister Prepares to Step Down. Why, and What’s Next?

5 hours ago

Ukraine Says It Has Taken More Ground and Prisoners During Its Advance Into Russia Border Region

5 hours ago

Wired Wednesday: Breaking Down the Lawsuit vs. Community Health System

GV Wire Multimedia Journalist Edward Smith talks with KMPH Fox 26 “Great Day” anchor Kim Stephens about Community Health System being sued b...

15 mins ago

15 mins ago

Wired Wednesday: Breaking Down the Lawsuit vs. Community Health System

38 mins ago

Friant Needs $90 Million to Pay for Massive Canal Project. Who Will Pony Up?

2 hours ago

UCLA Can’t Let Protesters Block Jewish Students From Campus, Judge Says

2 hours ago

Ukraine’s Surprise Attack Has Forced Russia to Change Plans

3 hours ago

Californians Will Vote on $18 Minimum Wage. Workers Want $25 and More.

4 hours ago

Ricardo Lara Deserves Credit for Trying to Solve California’s Home Insurance Crisis

4 hours ago

Mark Gardner on Giants’ 2014 World Series Title, Why Fresno Turns Out Great Players

4 hours ago

Presented With Rise in Border Crossings, Kamala Harris Chose a Long-Term Approach to the Problem

MENU

CONNECT WITH US

Search

Send this to a friend