Last week, the current Democrat Governor of Washington state, Jay Inslee, signed a bill into law that aims to ban the sale of most non-electric vehicles in the state by 2030.
This legislation follows the lead of other deep-blue states like California and New York that recently announced bans on gas-powered vehicles in a move to end sales of these vehicles no later by 2035.
The Post Millennial reported that Inslee signed the “Move Ahead Washington” package into law stipulating that all publicly owned and privately owned “passenger and light duty vehicles 2030 model or later that are sold, purchased, or registered in the state” must be electric.
This legislation comes with a $16.9 billion price tag and will receive funds generated by taxes on gasoline. Inslee claimed that the package would help “combat climate change,” but the state of Washington will be reliant upon its residents and visitors continuing to fill their cars with gasoline in order to fund reach this green goal.
In a statement, Inslee said, “Transportation is our state’s largest source of greenhouse gas emissions. There is no way to talk about climate change without talking about transportation. This package will move us away from the transportation system our grandparents imagined and towards the transportation system our grandchildren dream of.”
A blog post from the governor’s office said, “[Inslee] has pursued ambitious policies that some influential voices doubted but have come to fruition in recent years including the nation’s most ambitious 100% clean electric policy, and a national leading clean buildings policy. He’s long promoted rapid electric vehicle adoption and made Washington a leading clean tech hub thanks in part to the launch of a state Clean Energy Fund and the Clean Energy Institute at the University of Washington.”
The blog post indicated that the “Move Ahead Washington” package includes funding for other elaborate infrastructure projects in the state beside the prioritization of electric vehicles.
It said, “The Move Ahead Washington package focuses an increased share of funding on maintenance and preservation of existing roads and bridges than prior packages, and includes major projects such as the replacement of the I-5 bridge across the Columbia River.”
“The largest share of Move Ahead Washington goes toward climate and clean transportation,” the post continued. “The package includes funding for four new hybrid-electric ferries, tens of thousands of new EV changing stations, 25 transit electrification projects across the state and free fares for passengers 18 and younger on all public transportation.”
The state of Washington moving towards the coerced implementation of carbon pollution-free electric vehicles for public and private transit mirrors the White House’s moves towards “net-zero emissions.”