Posted on 06/20/2011 4:49:48 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Just when you think the People's State of California couldn't possibly inflict more damage on its own economy, out comes a regulatory proposal so astonishing you have to wonder whether the destruction of an entire industry is its actual intent.
So-called zero emissions vehicles, which could more accurately be labeled coal burning cars given the source of most of our nation's electricity, are part of a troika of green fetishes that have captured the fevered imaginations of central planners. Not content with the incentives provided by a $7,500 federal tax rebate attached to cars like Government Motors' Chevy Volt, California is proposing a rule that would fine auto makers $5,000 per vehicle if at least 5.5% of the new cars they sell in the state are not electric. The new rule, which would start siphoning money from the economy in 2018, would hike the green sales quota to 14% by 2025.
Nevermind that the charging infrastructure to support that many electric cars doesn't exist and can only be conjured up with massive taxpayer subsidies. Nevermind that California's own Clean Vehicle Rebate Project designed to transfer an additional five thousand taxpayer dollars into the pockets of electric car buyers goes broke in July. Nevermind that the only way switching to an electric fleet could reduce carbon emissions would be by ripping out every fossil fuel power plant in the state while covering the countryside with taxpayer subsidized windmills and solar plants - presumably the next stage of some master plan.
Nevermind that the resulting leap in electricity rates would both impoverish consumers and drive away even more businesses, further collapsing state tax revenues.
(Excerpt) Read more at realclearmarkets.com ...
A better solution - don’t sell cars in California. :P
Don’t sell them electricity generated out of state either!
Sounds like California new car prices are about to go up $5K per vehicle...
As someone that lives in California, I say go for it Democrats. The more of these business killing laws and regulations you pass, the sooner the collapse, and the sooner we can get back on the road to recovery.
I am not sure if we have gone over the cliff yet, if not we are very close. The out of control spending with the out of control environmental laws and the out of control social engineering has just about destroyed what was once the richest state in the union.
‘Green jobs’ are VERY expensive but they make the Libs feel so good. ‘Investing’ in ‘green jobs’ is just more taxpayer money down the rabbit hole but the smug Libs insist on it and they are in charge. There will have to be at least one BIG collapse before the general public understand this. As a former resident of California(19 years) I am so sorry it has come to this. We LOVED living in California but it just got too expensive. California is beautiful with loads of things to do. Most can’t afford the wonderful leisure activities anymore. Hope California can right itself again. Would love to be able to come back.
California already imports greater than 25% more electricity than they generate themselves.
California Electricity Profile
http://www.eia.gov/cneaf/electricity/st_profiles/california.html
Stop selling cars in California. The market there can’t be that great considering the alternatives, of what they are requiring the automakers to do. All it would take is a year and California politicians and the people would be screaming, and this crap from California would never happen again. Grow some balls GM, Ford and Chrysler!!!
Naaaa, go ahead and sell cars, just embargo all electricity generated by “non-green” sources in other states from crossing the Californian line.
Obviously, no Coal,
No Nuclear,
No Hydro ( kills the snail darter and the endangered elk-toe mussel),
No Windmills ( Kill migrating birds, block the view for Kerry and the Kennedys)
No Solar Power (”In late 2009, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) tried to block solar power projects in the Mojave Desert because it was critical habitat for a number of species, including the desert tortoise.” http://solar.calfinder.com/blog/news/tortoises-relocated-ivanpah-solar/ )
Maybe they can use the hot air coming from California’s journalists, academics and activists to power Stirling engines to run generators?
I remember growing up when California was the leader in so many ways. Now they have become a laughingstock full of fruits and nuts. You couldn’t pay me enough to live there. They deserve what they get.
I have said that over and over.
The solution is for manufacturers to stop selling cars in California.
Not only cars, but lawn mowers and anything else that runs on gasoline or fossil fuels.
Several years ago they made a left-wing documentary called “Who Killed the Electric Car?” It appeared to have been filmed almost entirely in California. The bulk of the citizens interviewed sincerely seemed to believe that some sort of Eeeeeevil conspiracy was at work and Gubbermint needed to intervene and put a stop to it.
I once thought this type of madness would stop when the politicians realized that their states were losing population and growing poorer. It finally dawned on me that they just don’t care.
Elections have consequences....
...the people who are elected are only doing what the "voters" who actually go vote want them to do.
There are choices:
...work like hell to get the "voters" who actually go vote on your side...
....or suck it up and eat dirt...
...or leave California....
...or...(some other extraordinary redress)...
California Is Backing Off Mandate for Electric Car
By LAWRENCE M. FISHER
Published: December 26, 1995California is backing away from a requirement that within two years 2 percent of all cars sold in the state be electrically powered. The move raises questions about similar mandates in New York and Massachusetts, both of which had pledged to follow California's lead.
The California Air Resources Board asked its staff on Thursday to prepare a rule that would suspend the requirement that auto makers market tens of thousands of electric vehicles in the state by the turn of the century. The board proposed to drop the 2 percent requirement in the early years of the program and instead to increase production gradually to 10 percent "zero emission vehicles" by 2003, when all car companies that sell more than 3,000 vehicles a year statewide must comply with the regulation.
“Who Killed the Electric Car” is available on Netflix, and I know for a while you could see it in chunks on YouTube (not sure if it was put there ‘legally’ or not, but it was there at one time).
Also, the Chris Paine’s follow-up movie, “Revenge of the Electric Car” has been making the documentary film circuit rounds. More info here:
http://www.revengeoftheelectriccar.com/
The Electric Car never lived.
I just spent a week in Florida. I drove from my home in Georgia to Orlando, Miami, Key West and back, in a mini-van, with the AC going the whole time. I can’t imagine an electric ANYTHING being able to do that.
I did see one place that electric cars work: Key West. Its small, with no real highways, so golf-cart class electric cars are perfect as are electric scooters. Assuming, of course, you don’t mind not having AC.
Love the article, Mr. Frezza, but “nevermind” is not a word. It’s “never mind.”
I blame Curt Cobain (late drug addict) for that horrible contraction.
How right you are! I live in California too and I make it a policy to do everything I can to assist the RATs in their move over the cliff. I’ve lived here for all of my 70 years and the way things are now are a complete reversal from what I enjoyed growing up. The sooner we experience total financial collapse, the better. That said, I really get tired of the “non-Californians” on FR crowing about selling us to Mexico and things of that level of stupidity. I read the news. It’s not like all the rest of the US is bathing in that lap of financial security, including places like Texas.
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