District 24 Lawmakers Ask for Regulations to be Rescinded in Letter to DEP

Senator Steve Oroho and Assemblymen Parker Space and Hal Wirths slammed Governor Phil Murphy’s green energy plan that will require the use of electric vehicles (EVs) by 2035 and asked the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to repeal the regulations.

Senator Steve Oroho and Assemblymen Parker Space and Hal Wirths slammed Gov. Phil Murphy’s green energy plan that will require the use of EVs by 2035 and asked the DEP to repeal the regulations. (Pixabay)

“Governor Murphy’s green energy plan is extreme, expensive, and completely unrealistic,” said Senator Oroho. “Our state already faces an affordability crisis. Removing the freedom of consumer choice and market competition will only drive-up costs and price out many working families and younger workers from the car market. It will also hurt car dealerships and the economic activity that they provide to our state.”

In July, Governor Murphy stated that he was filing the Advanced Clean Cars II (ACCII) proposal to require vehicle manufacturers to “make zero emission vehicles (ZEVs) an increasing percentage of their new light-duty vehicle sales, ramping up to 100% ZEVs by 2035.”

Electric vehicles are more expensive to purchase than gas-powered cars. According to Kelley Blue Book, the average cost of an electric vehicle is over $50,000.

“Aside from the severe economic implications such a ban on the combustion engine will have, this is something we believe the executive branch has no legislative authority to accomplish,” added Assemblyman Space. “If Democrat legislative leaders think this is so popular, why haven’t they called for an up and down vote in both houses? Because we all know, as with the coming ban on gas stoves and gas heat, this is not popular, and they don’t want to put their members in a bind. So they are passing the buck to the lame duck Murphy administration to accomplish this.”

“These extreme energy policies will cost working families too much to implement successfully,” said Wirths. “Consumers should have the option to purchase and drive EVs, hybrids, and gas-powered vehicles. The government has no right to limit the choice of consumers.”

In a letter to the DEP, Oroho, Space, and Wirths expressed their objections to the proposed ACCII regulations and stated that New Jersey should not adopt ACCII without confirming that ACCII is better for New Jersey than the new federal Clean Car rule announced in April 2023.

New Jersey residents still have time to file a Comment with the DEP. The Comment may be entered electronically into the DEP webpage at www.nj.gov/dep/rules/comments. Comments received after October 20 will not be recognized for responses.