LIBERTARIAN ARGUMENT AGAINST GAS BAN DOESN’T HOLD WATER

Many of the comments in response to Danny Westneat’s column about Coltura raised the libertarian argument, which is, in its essence, “Why should the government tell me what fuel I can use?  The free market should decide.”

If one believes that Climate Change is really happening and that it could potentially do grievous harm to the miracle of life in Earth, then why be so solicitous of consumer preferences and tastes?

It will take a long time for the switch from gasoline to happen, and the sooner we start the better. There is a lot of work to do in building out our charging infrastructure.

There is a technologically feasible, economically advantageous, and culturally acceptable path to halt climate change and the spraying of toxic, cancer-causing gases in the air. Who wants to see thousands of children unnecessarily get cancer from air pollution every year? Why not seize the opportunity to fix it?

So some people can indulge their love of new, big, & polluting gas engines in 12 years?  So they can hear the “Vroom Vroom” sounds that gas engines make. The trade off isn’t worth it.

For us to move as fast as possible, we need a ban. Automakers need certainty about where there the law says they will have to be by 2030 or another date certain. 

Similarly employers and landlords also need to prep their properties for the EVs to come. If they don’t know they are going to need to buy chargers by a certain date, many are going to hesitate and infrastructure buildout will continue to move slowly, retarding EV sales.

The environmental crisis calls for bold, well-considered action. The 2030 gas car moratorium meets that test.