Biden administration: gas cars are racist and a problem

October 3, 2023

Back in 2021 the Biden administration said that its proposed $2 trillion infrastructure program would expand mass transit and launch an era of green energy.  Adding another feature to that, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said that it would also reverse the “racist” history of America’s highway system.

Buttigieg has now appointed 24 new members to the Advisory Committee on Transportation Equity. This is an Obama-era committee that former President Donald Trump shut down, and Buttigieg is reviving it.

This move harkens back to President Joe Biden’s executive order shortly after taking office that instructs federal agencies to "pursue a comprehensive approach to advancing equity for all." Agency heads are to conduct an “equity assessment” to identify policies that create "systemic barriers" in minority communities.

America’s once sensible and productive idea of people getting recognition or a position based on their earning it through performance is being challenged by the idea that everyone gets the good positions without regard to their abilities and performance. This began years ago when, so as to not make anyone in a group who didn’t win or place high feel bad, everyone started being given participation trophies, or ribbons, or something.

Two members of the Committee have made some interesting comments. Andrea Marpillero-Colomina, who has been identified as a "spatial policy scholar," said "all cars are bad" given that they cause "a myriad of environmental issues and conditions." The other member, Veronica Davis, is a self-described "transportation nerd," and said that cars perpetuate "systemic racism" and are therefore "the problem" in our transportation system.

Marpillero-Colomina said that she is not "advocating for a complete erasure" of cars but thinks America needs to end its reliance on private motor vehicles. She asked, "How can we reimagine streets to prioritize people instead of cars? How can we create streets that are inclusive of modes other than cars?"

Along the same line of thinking, Biden is set on getting rid of gas-powered cars in favor of electric ones. And there are now regulations in the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Highway Safety Administration that require automakers to ensure that two-thirds of the new vehicles they sell by 2030 are electric vehicles.

It does not seem to matter to Biden and his fellow travelers that lots of people do not want electric vehicles, and lots of people cannot afford an electric vehicle. The batteries do not last forever, and cost thousands of dollars to replace.

It is also important to recognize that while driving EVs is far cleaner than driving gas and diesel vehicles, the production of the lithium-ion batteries for EVs is a process involving a huge amount of mining and the use of fossil fuels. It is very energy-intensive and is very damaging to the environment. This process may equal the pollution of driving conventional vehicles. 

When their lives are over EV batteries have to be dismantled to recycle the valuable contents. They also contain hazardous materials that must be handled with care. Further, only about 5 percent of batteries are able to be recycled. Some of the contents of batteries that are just thrown away are harmful to the environment. 

It also seems unimportant to those that champion EVs that by going overboard on EVs we are dependent upon China for much of the materials for batteries. 

The U.S. ranks 15th among the 25 nations producing lithium-ion battery metals like cobalt, graphite, lithium, manganese, and nickel, according to BloombergNEF in 2021. And the U.S. is expected to only move up two places in that ranking by 2025.

Sources predict that Japan, now in 12th place, will move up four places as things progress, and that is a good thing. However, China will likely maintain its dominance for the foreseeable future.

And then there is the problem of being able to support the additional demand for electricity when two-thirds of new vehicles are EV by 2030. And remember, much of our electricity is still produced by burning fossil fuels.

While burning less gasoline, diesel fuel, coal, oil and natural gas is a good thing, the actual value of this reduction depends upon what is going on while changing from fossil fuels to wind, solar and EVs. And when you look at all of the information objectively, at this point in time we likely will be causing a lot of problems for people -- like higher prices for so many things and many items we like and need will no longer be available, thanks to administration regulations -- without really making much of a difference in the amount of CO2 that America produces. 

And in considering that tiny improvement in CO2 production, when you recognize that China, India and some other countries are not trying to lessen CO2 production, but are actually increasing it, and all this discomfort and increased expense on the American people is for naught.

Someday, when things naturally progress to that point, wind and solar power will be easily the best way to go, and perhaps EVs will also make sense. That day is a long way off.