Electric vehicles by 2035 not a fantasy

The Las Vegas Reviewjournal editorial “California’s EV plan is built on fantasy,” Feb. 12, is right about the difficulties ahead as California implements its mandate for all-electric vehicle sales by 2035. But these difficulties are dwarfed in comparison to the tremendous difficulties caused by heat-trapping pollution that is impeding business as usual for all of us with droughts, fires, illnesses and floods.

Once you understand the enormity of the threat of climate change, you realize that California’s policy, which the Las Vegas Review-journal editorial writers call “fantasy,” is actually the only realistic way to alter the current trajectory.

It is not fantasy that 27 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions in the United States are caused by transportation or that each gas-burning car emits 4.6 tons of carbon dioxide per year, along with methane and nitrous oxide, which deliver even greater global warming potential. Nor is the $13 billion saved by avoiding both the costs and the human suffering of respiratory diseases once California rids itself of gaspowered vehicles.

Among the many states following California’s lead, New York state has temporarily adopted Advanced Clean Car Rules II, requiring an increasing percentage of new lightduty vehicle sales to be zero-emissions, leading to 100 percent of sales by 2035.

A public comment period on this ruling is open through March 6. This is an opportunity for New Yorkers to let Gov. Kathy Hochul and state Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Basil Seggos know that the rules must be strong enough to match the reality of the climate crisis. Details on submitting public comments can be found on the DEC website.

Christine Dreyfus