1. United States
2. Calif.
3. Letter

Today I take pen in hand to write and urge you to oppose and Vote NO on the Senate and House Republican bills to repeal the electric vehicle tax credit. The justification of this is shaky: It’s based on Congressional Budget Office estimates of direct savings to the budget by repealing the credits. There is also a question of whether any of this can be done via the budget reconciliation process. However, this is a false equivalence. The U.S. is already losing money owing to health and climate side effects of Internal Combustion Engine vehicles, not to mention that it’s undoubtedly being backed by fossil-fuel interests. It’s bigger than just trying to balance a budget: You can’t balance a budget constantly threatened by the side-effects of climate change on our infrastructure, health, and safety. Any alleged ‘savings’ would be swallowed up by other costs of doing nothing to promote a clean energy economy. Eliminating this vital incentive would severely undermine efforts to combat climate change and transition towards sustainable transportation. Many countries have begun successfully to make a big shift over to clean electric vehicles. The tax credit has proven highly effective in making electric vehicles more affordable and accessible to consumers, driving increased adoption rates. The freedom to ‘not pollute’ must be supported as the vehicles grow less expensive and new technologies make them ever more efficient. This policy move runs counter to the urgent need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector, which accounts for a significant portion of total emissions. It’s not merely passenger vehicles that are the problem, but a big switch is needed in medium and heavy duty vehicles as well. It’s been well documented that there are very serious health issues in many communities owing to proximity to freight shipping by polluting trucks. In short, repealing the tax credit would impede progress on this critical environmental issue and represent a step backward in the fight against climate change, and indeed, in investment in new technologies in vehicles, batteries and charging infrastructure. I urge you to reject this misguided legislation built only upon some jiggering of spreadsheets, and instead support policies that accelerate the transition to clean energy and electric mobility in all forms. Thank you for serious attention to this matter.