Senate Republicans are raising the alarm over President Joe Biden’s choice to head the National Highway Transportation Administration (NHTSA), who has a track record of fringe positions on climate issues.
A recent rule proposed by the EPA would dramatically increase the number of new electric vehicles (EVs) to 60 percent of all new cars by 2030—a tenfold increase over current levels that Republicans say is too much. They tied their opposition to Carlson to her potential support for this and similar measures.
The standards laid out by the EPA, Cruz wrote, “are so stringent they effectively mandate automakers produce electric vehicles even if Americans do not want them.”
Because of Carlson’s past environmentalist positions, Republicans worry that as NHTSA chief, she would use her position to bolster and expand the EPA’s EV rule.
“Based on your record, we are deeply concerned that the [NHTSA] will follow the EPA’s lead and propose similarly radical vehicle fuel economy standards that run contrary to the law, diminish vehicle choice, impose higher costs on American families, and undermine our national and energy security all while benefitting China,” the letter reads. “Your work at NHTSA and past career suggest NHTSA intends to mimic the EPA’s draconian EV mandate.”
In her current post with the NHTSA, the White House said, Carlson “oversaw the issuance” of the agency’s 2024 to 2026 fuel economy standards, which set the minimum mileage per gallon for new vehicles. Carlson’s standards would require 2024 vehicles to average 44.3 miles per gallon (mpg), 2025 vehicles to average 48.2 mpg, and 2026 vehicles to average 53.5 mpg.
With current technology, fuel-based cars are generally unable to come even close to this level of fuel efficiency. This would, over time, edge most fuel-based cars out of the market, a scheme that is in line with the Biden administration’s goal of drastically reducing the number of fuel-based cars on the road.
After the NHTSA’s fuel economy standards were released, West Virginia, Montana, and several other states filed a lawsuit, alleging that the standards exceeded NHTSA authority.
“As chief counsel, you had a responsibility to ensure that NHTSA’s proposed regulations complied with the law,” Republicans admonished Carlson. “However, you instead took actions that were consistent with your long career as an environmentalist without traffic safety experience.”
National Security Concerns
Republicans said that Carlson’s proposals would contribute to national and energy security concerns, if enacted.Specifically, many raw materials required to manufacture EVs are monopolized by China.
“The United States is heavily dependent on China for many of the minerals and other materials needed to produce EV batteries,” Cruz wrote. “Forcing increased production of EVs would undermine national security by making us more reliant on China for these materials at a time when the Chinese Communist Party is increasingly hostile to the United States.”
Additionally, lawmakers noted that the scheme to increase tenfold the number of EVs on U.S. highways could put great additional strain on an already dated and vulnerable power grid.
Concluding the letter, lawmakers wrote: “We strongly urge NHTSA to reject the EPA’s attempt at central planning and not proceed with a wholesale remake of the auto sector. NHTSA must not write radical regulations that are contrary to the law, harmful to American families, and undermine our national and energy security while benefitting China.”
The letter was co-signed by Minority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) and Sens. Roger Wicker (R-Ala.), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Jerry Moran (R-Kansas), among others. Freshmen Sens. Ted Budd (R-N.C.), Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), and J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) also signed the letter.
