Exclusive | GOPs Bruce Blakeman promises to end Hochuls war on drivers by killing Dems NY green mandates
Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman promised to end a New York state “war on drivers” by killing Democrat-driven green energy mandates if he’s elected.Blakeman ripped his Democratic rival Gov.Kathy Hochul for her pro-EV crusade to phase out gas-powered cars in favor of zero-emission electric vehicles by 2035.“Kathy Hochul looks at middle-class commuters and sees an ATM,” Blakeman, the Nassau County executive, told The Post.
“She already hiked tolls and fares 21 times, slapped drivers with a congestion pricing tax just to cross into Manhattan, and now she’s literally trying to dictate what vehicle you can keep in your driveway.“Hochul may think everyone rides an electric scooter to an office, but out in the real world, we have kids to drive to school, tools to haul to job sites, and shifts to make,” he went on.“When I’m Governor, Hochul’s war on drivers ends, and her gas car ban goes straight to the garbage.”The 2022 law backed by Hochul — the Advance Clear Cars Mandate 2 — requires all new passenger cars, pickup trucks, and SUVs sold in New York State to be zero emissions by 2035.Hochul promoted zero-emission electric autos to meet the state’s climate change law requirements for dramatically reducing greenhouse emissions and air pollution.“New York is a national climate leader and an economic powerhouse, and we’re using our strength to help spur innovation and implementation of zero-emission vehicles on a grand scale,” Hochul said in a September 2022 press statement.“With sustained state and federal investments, our actions are incentivizing New Yorkers, local governments, and businesses to make the transition to electric vehicles.
We’re driving New York’s transition to clean transportation forward, and today’s announcement will benefit our climate and the health of our communities for generations to come.”Hochul doubled down on her support for the ban on gas-powered vehicles during Earth Week in April,...