It’s about to get really hard to buy a gas car in New Mexico.
On Thursday, the Environmental Improvement Board (EIB) passed a very controversial and highly opposed rule that will require 43% of all new cars and light-duty trucks imported to be sold in NM be electric vehicles (EVs) starting in 2026. That percentage increases to 82% percent by 2032.
Hypocritically, Gov. Lujan Grisham celebrated the decision by saying, “The adoption of these rules is a victory for customer choice.”
This rule does the absolute opposite of what the governor says and strips away choice from New Mexico families.
Senator Gregg Schmedes (R-Tijeras) blasted the rule passing despite thousands of New Mexicans, including family-owned auto dealerships, small businesses, and every Republican member of the Legislature submitting comments in opposition.
“The unelected EIB has stripped the right of New Mexicans to make the best decision for their families' transportation needs. With this rule in place, New Mexicans will flock to surrounding states to buy affordable and reliable vehicles, harming our local dealers and businesses.” Schmedes said.
“Today was further proof that this administration has no interest in acting in the best interest of the people of our state. Instead, they only serve to further the political aspirations of this lame-duck governor.”
He’s absolutely right, and sadly, small car dealerships, hard-working low-income families, and rural New Mexicans will be hit the hardest by this new rule.
Larry Behrens of “Power the Future” an advocacy group for American energy workers, hit the nail on the head in a statement on the ruling, “If New Mexicans want an electric vehicle today, they are free to buy one. Yet, because of their high price tag and unreliability, they make up less than 1 percent of cars in the state. New Mexicans are rejecting the Governor’s EVs, so she has no choice but to force them on us."
Their statement goes on to point out that only 0.8 percent of the cars in New Mexico are electric with the highest percentage of ownership centering around Santa Fe and Northeast Albuquerque.
In Gov. MLG fashion of “rules for thee but not for me,” public documents reveal that state employees drove EVs for less than 1 percent of their travel.
The Albuquerque Journal blasted the proposed rule bringing up some very valid points that it appears Gov. MLG and her unelected board have no interest in addressing.
In an editorial titled, “EV mandates would limit choices and decimate NM auto dealerships,” it reads, “What we don’t hear is about there being only one public EV charging station in Española, at the local electric cooperative, that’s available only during business hours on weekdays.
We don’t hear about the limited range of EVs, especially in mountainous areas.
We don’t hear about the high propensity of current EV owners who also own a standard vehicle and use it more often than their virtue-signaling EV parked in their two-car garage until the next trip to the country club.
We don’t hear about how state law prohibits direct-to-consumer car sales and how Tesla had to locate dealerships on the Nambé and Santa Ana pueblos to sell its EVs.
And we haven’t heard a peep about the governor’s motorcade fleet transitioning to electric vehicles. That would seem like a good place to start.”
They continue, “Until EVs are good enough for our governor for something other than a photo-op at a news conference, they shouldn’t be crammed down the throats of the other 99.999953% of us.”
Once again, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham is bypassing her legislature, bypassing the voices of New Mexicans, and finding ways to dictate her will.
It’s nothing new for this governor, but it’s important to realize her actions are very much ignored by the Democratic Party in New Mexico.
This proves it will not end with her term, and progressives are taking notes on how to continue these violations of your freedoms.
We must elect Republicans up and down the ballot in 2024 because New Mexico, you deserve better.
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