Carper urges tough US rules barring gas-powered cars by 2035

WASHINGTON (AP) — A top Senate Democrat is urging U.S. anti-pollution standards that would follow a deal brokered by California with five automakers and then set targets to end sales of new gasoline-powered vehicles by 2035, a goal that reaches farther than President Joe Biden’s climate plan.

In a letter sent late Thursday to the Environmental Protection Agency, Delaware Sen. Tom Carper, who chairs the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, says the administration must move forcefully in the auto sector to achieve Biden’s plan of slashing America’s greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030.

Carper notes that the industry is already moving in the direction of zero-emission electric vehicles and that it's critical to lay markers now to ensure that the U.S. positions itself as a top player in auto manufacturing over foreign competitors such as China.

“Strong policies in the United States will encourage those investments to be made here,” Carper wrote in the letter to EPA Administrator Michael Regan, which was obtained by The Associated Press. He cited likely U.S. gains in “research and development, manufacturing and ultimately export opportunities in automotive technology.”

Under Carper’s proposal, the EPA would apply California’s 2019 framework agreement on emissions standards reached between Ford, Volkswagen, Honda, BMW and Volvo. That deal would cut greenhouse gas emissions by 3.7% per year from 2022 through 2026 and raise fuel economy requirements by a like amount.

After that, the administration would have to have much stricter standards to meet goals spelled out in Carper’s plan. Half of all new vehicles sold would be electric by 2030, and sales of new gasoline-powered passenger vehicles would be banned by 2035. Under the deal with California, automakers...