OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond said last week that he would join attorneys general of 24 other states to challenging the Biden administration’s rule on tailpipe emissions.
Drummond joined other petroleum-producing states in a letter opposing the Environmental Protection Agency’s plan. The group said the rule would damage the economy, undermine the reliability of our electrical grids, tax the families and businesses who depend on them, and threaten national security.
“This draconian proposal would have particularly disastrous consequences for Oklahoma’s economy,” Drummond, a Republican, said. “I am proud to join my colleagues across the nation in fighting back against the continuous and flagrant federal overreach of the Biden Administration. I will always fight to do what is best for all Oklahomans.”
In a media statement announcing his opposition to the plan, Drummond said the administration’s EPA rule would “phase out gas-powered vehicles and restructure the automobile industry around electric vehicles at a breakneck pace.”
The proposal aims to boost certain EV sales from 8.4% of total vehicle sales today to 67% by 2032.
While Drummond announced his opposition to the rapid buildup of the EV industry, Oklahoma recently offered millions of dollars in incentives to bring Tesla to the state.
And, in 2021, the state announced the company Canoo, another company that makes electric vehicles, would build a factor at the Mid-America Industrial Park near Tulsa.
“Oklahoma has always been a pioneer in the energy industry, and this partnership with Canoo shows that our state is an innovation leader in electric vehicle technology,” Gov. Kevin Stitt said, in a 2021 media statement announcing the plan. “We are thrilled to partner with Canoo and Chairman and CEO Tony Aquila to provide high-paying jobs for Oklahomans and position America as the global leader for vehicle manufacturing for decades to come.”
At the same time, state officials released the Oklahoma National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure plan, which is a $5 billion program designed to make “historic investments in electric vehicle charging infrastructure across the country.”
The goal of the program, a report released by the state Department of Transportation said, is to establish a network of 500,000 EV chargers by 2030 throughout the U.S. Oklahoma’s portion of the plan is a $66.3 million funding package spread out over five years.
Last year the state received $9.8 million of the funds.
Still, Drummond and other attorneys general argued “the aggressive shift to EVs is counterproductive and misguided.”
The group said the country’s power grids not only lack the capacity to accommodate the proposed rule’s new demands but are also not nearly secure enough to handle them safely and hinders U.S. energy independence, thereby making the country less secure.
The letter was sent by Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and the AGs of Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Wyoming.