Hit The Gas: Could Montana Ban Electric Vehicles?
Just last week I wrote about the (not-so-likely) possibility of Montana banning gas stoves, an issue I was surprised to see come up considering I had never considered the harm a gas stove could potentially cause. This week I'm somehow even more surprised that now the topic of banning electric vehicles has entered the national conversation.
There's a bill in Wyoming that aims to support phasing out the sale of electric vehicles by 2035. As for the reasoning, the bill reads that "Wyoming's vast stretches of highway, coupled with a lack of electric vehicle charging infrastructure, make the widespread use of electric vehicles impracticable for the state," and "the batteries used in electric vehicles contain critical minerals whose domestic supply is limited and at risk for disruption" among other potential problems with electric vehicles.
I suppose this shouldn't have caught me so off guard, since I've learned now that for every Democrat action there seems to be an equal and opposite Republican reaction, and vice versa. With that in mind I should've known a bill like Wyoming's would be introduced ever since California passed a bill that bans sales of gas cars by 2035.
The end of bill reads that if passed, members of the legislature in the state of Wyoming "encourages Wyoming's industries and citizens to limit the sale and purchase of new electric vehicles in Wyoming with a goal of phasing out the sale of new electric vehicles in Wyoming by 2035." The use of the words I italicized (there is no italicization in the actual bill) make me wonder if the purpose of the bill is more symbolic than practical.
So could Montana ban the sales of electric vehicles? I guess it's technically possible but I certainly wouldn't bet on it.