It is ironic that Delaware moved forward with a rule to adopt California’s Advanced Clean Car regulations during the same week that Connecticut slammed the brakes on the same initiative.
Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont ceased efforts to ram through a bureaucratic regulation mandating a move to electric vehicles and announced instead that he will ask the state’s elected legislators to consider the issue in 2024.
I support efforts to clean up the environment but also believe an EV mandate is something that should be decided by Delaware’s elected representatives in the General Assembly — not by a term-limited governor and bureaucrats at the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control.
Such mandates are consequential to every Delawarean, yet there has been little discussion and even less debate over important questions.
Electric vehicles today are far more expensive than gas-powered vehicles and have limited range. These are real problems for many Delaware residents, especially low-income working families and those in rural areas. There also are many unanswered questions about generating capacity, grid capacity and the cost and location of grid improvements required to support EVs and electric appliances.
Delaware’s ambition to be an environmental leader is commendable. But our elected representatives should insist on taking the time to think through this conversion process and the many questions surrounding it. It may be politically expedient for legislators to have an EV mandate imposed by executive fiat, but most Delawareans I know expect more from their elected representatives.
Pete Harrigan
Rehoboth Beach
Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at civiltalk@iniusa.org.
